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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



JOHN AMOS COMENIUS 

BISHOP OF THE MORAVIANS 
HIS LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL WORKS 



S. S. LAURIE, A.M., F.R.S.E. 

PROFESSOR OF THE INSTITUTES AND HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN 
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 

READING-CIRCLE EDITION 

WITH FIVE AUTHENTIC PORTRAITS AND A NEW BIBLIOGRAPHY 

WITH FIFTEEN PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTIONS FROM 

EARLY EDITIONS OF HIS WORKS 




SYRACUSE, N. Y. ^f&S^^JK 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 
1892 

COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY C. W. BARDEEN 



SCHOOL BULLETIN PRESS, C. W. BARDEEN, SYRACUSE, 



tegOQ, 



PREFACE TO READING CIRCEE EDITION. 

This edition differs from those hitherto published 
mainly (i) in being indexed by head-lines, (2) in the 
insertion of five portraits, and (3) in the addition of a 
Bibliography of some length, with photographic repro- 
ductions of pages from early editions of the works of 
Comenius. 

It has seemed to me that Prof. Eaurie's book has 
not hitherto been accorded the prominence it deserves 
as an educational text-book. I have found that read- 
ers are often repelled by the somewhat abstract account 
of the Renascence given in the Introduction, and have 
not reached the core of the book, which is, the account 
of The Great Didactic, pages 73-153. What Prof.^/^ 
Eaurie says on pages 222, 223 of the practical value 
ofComenius's views on Method, he thus reaffirms in 
his article in the Educational Review for March, 1892 : 

In spite of many defects we have from him the only thorough- 
going treatise on educational method that has yet appeared. 
* * * Comenius remains for us the most learned and simple- 
hearted worker for the education of the people, and the most 
eminent writer on Method, whom the world has ever seen — in 
fact, the founder of Method. 

This judgment will be confirmed, lam sure, by any- 
one who will really master the pages I have referred 
to. I do not believe a more practically helpful treatise 
on Method was ever published : certainly there is no 
other at once so broad and sound and suggestive. 

(iii) 




IV PREFACE TO READING CIRCLE EDITION 

A word as to the portraits of Comenius. The little 
reproduction here given is from a portrait hang- 
ing in the Council -chamber of 
the Moravian church in Bohe- 
mia, and is a favorite picture 
among members of that church. 
The commonest portrait in text- 
books is that on page 7 2 , which 
is copied from the English edi- 
tion, 1652, of the Janua. The 
same picture, but steel-engraved and with a different 
date, is given in Benham's Life of Comenius, with this 
note: 

This Portrait is from an engraving by the justly celebrated 
Wenceslaus Hollar, a Bohemian exile, who most probably took 
it from life. It was preferred before that of Glover, which was 
done ten years earlier. 

The frontispiece is from a photograph of a bust in 
possession of one of the Moravian communities in this 
country. 

The portrait on page viii . , is from an engraving by Chr . 
Hagensa from the painting by Crispina de Passa. That, 
on page 228 is from the frontispiece of his Opera Omnia. 
Two excellent portraits for framing have been re- 
cently published , and may be had of the publisher of 
this volume. A fine picture in oils by V. Brozig, '76, 
24x31, representing Comenius with his Didactica 
Magna in his hands, may be had for five dollars. A 
lithographic portrait by Emanuel Nadherrnj, 1885, 
20 x 24, may be had for one dollar. 

C. W. BARDEEN. 
Syracuse, Nov. 8, 1892. 



. PREFACE. 

This book is the most complete — so far as I know 
the only complete — account of Comenius and his 
works that exists in any language. I have gone care- 
fully through the four volumes of his didactic writings, 
containing 2271. pages of Latin, good, bad, and in- 
different. The German translation of one of the 
treatises has also been before me. The life is written, 
like the rest of the book, entirely from original sources; 
but I do not endeavor to give an account of Comenius's 
ecclesiastical relations. 

It is not always easy to determine how much of a 
voluminous and prolix writer should be given. My 
object has been to omit nothing essential. There is 
much in Comenius that is fanciful, and even fantastic, 
and of this I have endeavored, in suitable places, to 
give enough to exhibit the author's manner of thought. 
There is much, again, that is now universally accepted 
in education, which I have yet preserved, because 
the statement of it is essential to a proper exposition 
of Comenius's system. My aim has been to omit 
nothing that is characteristic or useful, or historically 
important. 

(v) 



VI PREFACE 

The scholastic habit of division and subdivision 
was inherited by Comenius, and along with this 
he had in great force the systematizing impulse 
of the German mind, though not himself a German. 
He can leave nothing to be understood, but will- 
sometimes imperil his whole theory by insisting on 
the small as well as the great. While following 
closely the argument of Comenius I have dropped 
superfluous divisions and distinctions, but wholly to 
avoid repetition was impracticable. 1 

S. S. LAURIE. 
University of Edinburgh. 

1 A pleasing and lucid sketch of Comenius and his work will 
be found in Quick's Educational Reformers. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 9 

LIFE OF COMBNIUS . . ' » . 25 

AN ACCOUNT OF COMENIUS'S EDUCATIONAL 

SYSTEM AND WORKS :— 
PART I. THE GREAT DIDACTIC : 

First Section : Pansophy and the Aim of Edu- 
cation 73 

Second Section : Method of Education . . 83 

Third Section : Art of Education . . . 102 
Fourth Section : General Organization of a 

School System 137 

PART II. THE METHOD OF LANGUAGES . 154 
PART III. THE TEXT-BOOKS AND THE WAY 

OF USING THEM 173 

Vestibuijjm ...■'.. 173 

JANUA l8o 

Atrium 188 

Subsidiary Text-Books . . ~ . . . 190 

Or bis Pictus 190 

Schola Ludus • 192 

Text- Book of Greek 194 

PART IV. INNER ORGANIZATION OF A PAN- 
SOPHIC SCHOOL, AND THE INSTRUCTION 

PLAN 196 

BRIEF CRITICISM OF COMENIUS'S SYSTEM . 215 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 

INDEX . 261 

(vii) 



m 




INTRODUCTION. 



THB RKNASCBNCK. 

It is usual to date the revival of letters from the 
time of Petrarch in Italy (1304-74) and Chaucer in 
England (132 8 -1400), and to find the chief impulse 
which the movement received from without, in the 
dispersal of Greek scholars over Europe at the taking 
of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. The new 
birth of the mind of Western and Northern Europe was 
a process similar to that which is repeated in the intel- 
lectual history of every man who rises above those 
forms and conventionalities of life and opinion in the 
midst of which he has grown up. The intelligence of 
men was overlaid with a burden of dogmatism and 
pedantry of form in theology, ritual philosophy, gram- 
mar, and rhetoric. Looking straight at things — things 
of sense and of thought, — contemplating those ques- 
tions which every thoughtful man has ultimately to 
answer for himself, in an immediate way, and no 
longer through the medium of mere phrases and forms, 
constituted the essence of the revival. The regenera- 
tion of the human spirit was felt in almost every de- 
partment of intellectual and moral activity. 

This return of the soul of man to Reality was, it 
seems to me, the true characteristic of the revival. For 

(9) 



10 THE RENASCENCE 

the dry bones of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, was 
substituted the living substance of thought, and the 
gymnastic of the schools gave place to the free play of 
mind once more in contact with nature. The revival 
was thus a return to realism — the realism of a poetic 
observation of nature, and of the thought of man on 
the things that pertain to humanity. 

The classical writers of Greece and Rome were, in 
those days, almost the sole exponents of the new life, 
and the alliance in them of truth and felicity of percep- 
tion with beauty of expression so captivated the minds 
of the Humanists that they surrendered to them their 
own individuality. Beauty of expression was regarded 
as inseparable from truth and elevation of thought. 
The movement soon shared the fate of of all enthusi- 
asms. The new form was worshipped, and to it the 
spirit and substance were subordinated. Style became 
the supreme object of the educated class, and success- 
ful imitation, and thereafter laborious criticism, became 
the marks of the highest culture. The relation of 
ancient Rome to Greece was somewhat similar, but 
with this difference, that the Roman, being himself 
cast in an antique mould, brought into literature the 
contribution of his own freshness and originality. 

When style and a wide and various knowledge of 
stylists became the ambition of the cultivated man, it 
can readily "be understood that the education of boys 
suffered. The object of schoolmasters being to pre- 
pare boys to admire and imitate perfection of form in 
an ancient tongue, they had to fall back on the old 
grammatical drill. The chief permanent benefit to 



THE HUMANISTIC MOVEMENT 11 

youtli was an improvement in the text-books, the works 
of the classical writers themselves now taking the place 
of epitomes and of barbarous Latinity. 

It would have been strange if man's relations to the 
unseen and eternal had escaped the criticism of the re- 
awakened soul : accordingly, we find the names of 
Wycliffe and Huss conspicuous in the period of Pe- 
trarch and Chaucer. When, later, subjects of spirit- 
ual interest came fully within the scope of the modern 
movement, they took precedence of all others, for they 
concerned the business and touched the heart of the 
humblest as well as of the highest. Reform in religion 
introduced the element of passion into the revival, and 
supplied the motive force necessary to sustained and 
persistent activity. 

In the earlier half of the sixteenth century the Hu- 
manistic movement was represented by such men as 
L/udovicus Vives, Erasmus, Budseus, and Sir Thomas 
More, and the parallel religious activity by the great 
names of Luther and Calvin. In Melanchthon the 
literary and theological streams met. Luther was un- 
questionably a Humanist, but it was inevitable that the 
deeper spiritual interests of which he was the guardian 
should obscure the less urgent and less vital claims of 
learning and culture. In his followers this result was 
conspicuous. Men's minds became engrossed with a 
reconstruction of faith and a reorganization of the 
Church, an enterprise which shook Kurope and dis- 
turbed the old order to its foundations. The political 
and ecclesiastical wars may be said to have lasted 
nearly one hundred and thirty years. 



12 THE RENASCENCE 

In the History of Education it is important to recog- 
nize the existence of the two parallel streams of intel- 
lectual and spiritual regeneration. The leaders of both, 
like the leaders of all great social changes, at once be- 
thought themselves of the schools. Their hope was 
in the young, and hence the reform of Education 
early engaged their attention. 

The pure Humanists, on the one hand, were intent 
on the substitution of literary culture for grammatical 
and logical forms, and cared only for the education of 
the few ; but their sympathy with the religious re- 
formation was notorious ; and they shared the suspicion 
with which the Protestant reformers were regarded by 
the mediaeval Church. To know Greek was to be ex- 
posed to insinuations of heresy. An attitude of hos- 
tility towards the independent activity of the human 
mind was not, however, peculiar to the mediaeval 
Church ; it is to be easily detected in certain forms of 
Protestantism . Both alike are obscurantists , and regard 
reason with suspicion, if not aversion. They have a 
profound distrust for Humanity . 

The Church Reformers, on the other hand, had an 
interest in the progress of culture scarcely less sincere 
than that of the Humanists, but to this they added 
compassion for the dense ignorance of the masses of 
the people. The human soul, wherever found, was to 
them an object of infinite concern, and, unlike the 
Humanists, they aimed at universal instruction. The 
new form of the old faith, it was felt, could sustain 
itself only on the basis of popular education. The 
Reformers were educated philanthropists in the truest 



TH3 SCHOOL AND THE CHURCH 13 

sense, and hence the people's school is rightly called 
the child of the Reformation. It would be out of place 
here, in illustration of what has been said, to do more 
than advert to Luther's impassioned appeals, and to 
Melanchthon's universal activity which earned for him 
the honorable designation of Prseceptor Germanise . To 
the same union of the theological with the philan- 
thropic spirit was due the noble scheme of popular 
education embodied in the Book of Polity of the Re- 
formed Church of Scotland, written so early as 1560. 

The educational aims of the leaders of the Humanis- 
tic and theological revival respectively, while they did 
not conflict, were thus different both in their spirit and 
scope ; and it is important to note this, if we are to 
understand the history of Schools from the sixteenth 
century down to our own time : for motive causes in 
operation 350 years ago are still active. 

While the literary Humanists, such as Erasmus, had 
for their aim culture, and this almost exclusively 
through the literatures of Greece and Rome, the theo- 
logical Humanists, though recognizing culture, yet 
desired to subordinate it at every stage to a religious 
purpose. The latter had consequently on their side 
popular sentiment, because they most truly represented 
the popular need. *■ Above all things,' said Luther, 
' let the Scriptures be the chief and the most frequently 
used reading-book, both in primary and in high 
schools. . . . Where the Holy Scriptures do not 
bear sway, there I would counsel none to send his 
child ; for every institution will degenerate where God's 
Word is not in daily exercise. . . . The High 



1-1- THE RENASCENCE 

Schools ought to send forth men thoroughly versed in 
the Scriptures to become bishops and pastors, and to 
stand in the van against heretics, the devil, and if need 
be, the whole world.' With all this, Luther's views 
of education were large and liberal, including music, 
gymnastic, and history, as well as the languages and 
mathematics. Melanchthon also, while urging the 
pursuit of ancient philosophy in its original sources, 
and of the literatures of Greece and Rome, yet held by 
Christian teaching as the main end of the school. So 
with Valentine Trotzendorf and the eminent John 
Sturm of Strasburg, whose great classical school was a 
model for all countries : ( a wise and persuasive piety, 
knowledge and purity and elegance of diction,' were 
his aim. The Humanistic Protestant schools thus em- 
braced Christian teaching as a vital part of their cur- 
riculum, the desire of the Reformers being always to 
unite true learning with sound theology . It was this 
theological humanism (so to speak) thac ultimately 
gained the day among the Reformed Churches. 

The Roman Catholic Church meanwhile was not in- 
sensible to the scholastic changes which the modern 
spirit had made inevitable. The new order of the 
Jesuits was authorized in 1540. Their special function 
as a Church Society was preaching, confession, and 
education, but the last-named chiefly. 'To this,' 
says Ranke, c they thought of binding themselves by a 
special clause in their vows ; and although that was 
not done, they made the practice of this duty impera- 
tive by the most cogent rules. Their most earnest 
desire was to gain the rising generation.' In 1626 



METHOD OF THE JESUITS 15 

they had already 467 Colleges and thirty-six Semin- 
aries, and to their zealous and self-denying labors the 
reaction from Protestantism was mainly due. While 
subordinating all learning, nay, every act of life, to 
the Catholic idea, they yet had open minds for educa- 
tional improvements. The best parts of the methods 
pursued in the schools of Trotzendorf and Sturm were 
embodied in their system. ■ Familiarity with Latin as 
a common language, however, rather than with the 
literature of Latin, was their school aim. At the same 
time, they were sufficiently influenced by the Human- 
istic revival to discard scholastic barbarism and to 
cultivate style. Where rhetoric and style are culti- 
vated for themselves, the result is a certain discipline 
of the faculties certainly, but an absence of the genu- 
ine substance of education . Expression , not thought, 
becomes the prime consideration ; and it is only 
thought about the realities of sense or about the 
products of thought that calls forth original power. 
The Jesuit course included Latin and a moderate 
amount of Greek, with logic and rhetoric for the more 
advanced classes. They could show as good a cur- 
riculum as the public grammar schools of their time. 
The superiority of the Protestant schools lay in the 
greater freedom of spirit which characterized them, and 
the greater regard paid to the substance of literature. 
The Jesuits, however, were far in advance of their con- 
temporaries in laying down for their teachers a definite 
educational method — stiff and inelastic certainly, but 
yet a method. Little by little, little at a time, culti- 
vation of the memory, thoroughness in a few things, 



16 THE RENASCENCE 

easy work, and a mild but persistent discipline, were 
merits belonging to the Jesuit schools two hundred 
years before they were practiced to any large extent 
elsewhere. It is not our business here to enter more 
largely into the Jesuit system : our object is simply to 
show that this religious Order accepted the Humanistic 
movement, under narrow restrictions certainly, but these 
not of a kind to render their Humanism a mere name. 

Thus it was that on both sides of the great contro- 
versy which began 350 years ago, and still continues, 
religion furnished the motive of education ; and so it 
will ever be, although it is possible that the form which 
the religious spirit takes may be so veiled as to be in- 
visible even to itself. On one side, it was recognized 
that the way to faith was through obedience, and that 
obedience, the first of virtues in a true Catholic, can 
be secured in two ways — by the careful shaping of the 
minds of those who demand education, and by the 
equally careful neglect of the intelligence of those who 
can be safely passed by. On the other side, the 
Humanistic revival was early lost in the more pressing 
claims of the Theological revival, and the genuine 
human spirit permanently survived only in the move- 
ment to instruct the masses. The theological spirit it 
was that gave the impulse necessary to carry education 
down into the lower strata of society, and so to raise 
the humanity of the people. 

The improvements made in the grammar schools 
under the influence of Melanchthon and Sturm, and,, 
in England, of Colet and Ascham, did not endure, 
save in a very limited sense. Pure classical literature 



SCOTLAND AND SAXONY IN ADVANCE 17 

was now read, — a great gain certainly, but this was 
all. There was no tradition of method, as was the 
case in the Jesuit order. During the latter half of the 
sixteenth century, the complaints made of the state 
of the schools, the waste of time, the barbarous and 
intricate grammar rules, the cruel discipline, were loud 
and long, and proceeded from men of the highest in- 
tellectual standing. It has to be remembered, how- 
ever, that all Europe had been embroiled in civil and 
ecclesiastical contentions, and that the seeds of popular 
education and oLan improved secondary system could 
not possibly have developed themselves in an atmos- 
phere so ungenial . Indeed , until the remodelled school 
code of Saxony appeared in 1773 tne dawn so full of 
promise was clouded. Two hundred years were lost. 
Scotland alone was during this period busily carrying 
out, in a truly national sense, the programme of the 
Reformation and the Humanists, but this, in accord- 
ance with the genius of Protestantism, mainly on the 
popular side. 

But the complaints and demands of men of learning" 
and piety were not relaxed. To unity in the Reformed 
Churches they looked, but looked in vain, for a settle- 
ment of opinion, and to the school they looked as the 
sole hope of the future. The School, as it actually 
existed, might have well filled them with despair. 
Even in the Universities, Aristotelian Physics and 
Metaphysics, and with them the scholastic philosophy, 
still held their own. The reforms initiated mainly by 
Melanchthon had not, indeed, contemplated the over- 
throw of Aristotelianism . He and the other Human- 



18 THK RKNASCKNCK 

ists merely desired to substitute Aristotle himself in 
the orignal for the Latin translation from the Arabic 
(necessarily misleading), and the Greek and Latin 
classics for barbarous epitomes. These very reforms, 
however, perpetuated the reign of Aristotle, when the 
spirit that actuated the Reformers was dead and there 
had been a relapse into the old scholasticism. The 
Jesuit reaction, also, which recovered France and South 
Germany for the Papal See, w T as powerful enough to 
preserve a footing for the metaphysical theology of 
St. Thomas Aquinas and the schoolmen. In England, 
Milton was of opinion that the youth of the Universities 
were, even so late as his time, still presented with an 
'asinine feast of sow-thistles.' These retrogressions 
in School and University serve to show how exceed- 
ingly difficult it is to contrive any system of education, 
middle or upper, which will work of itself when the 
contrivers pass from the scene. Hence the importance, 
it seems to us, of having in every University, as part 
of the philosophical faculty, a department for the ex- 
position of this very question of Education — surely a 
very important subject in itself as an academic study, 
and in its practical relations transcending perhaps all 
others. How are the best traditions of educational 
theory and practice to be preserved and handed down, 
if those who are to instruct the youth of the country 
.are to be sent forth to their work from our Universities 
with minds absolutely vacant as to the principles and 
history of their profession — if they have never been 
taught to ask themselves the questions, ' What*am I 
going to do?' 'Why?' and 'How?' This subject is, 



bacon's "advancement of learning " 19 
one worthy of consideration both by the Universities 
and the State. It was the want of Method that led to 
the decline of Schools after the Reformation period ; 
it was the stndy of Method which gave the Jesuits the 
superiority that on many parts of the Continent they 
still retain. 

In 1605 there appeared a book which was destined 
to place educational method on a scientific foundation, 
although its mission is not yet, it is true, accomplished. 
This was Francis Bacon's Advancement of Lear?ii?ig, 
which was followed, some years later, by the Org anon. 
For some time the thoughts of men had been turning 
to the study of Nature. Bacon represented this move- 
ment, and gave it the necessary impulse by his masterly 
survey of the domain of human knowledge, his preg- 
nant suggestions, and his formulation of scientific 
method. Bacon was not aware of his relations to the 
science and art of Education ; he praises the Jesuit 
schools, not knowing that he was subverting their very 
foundations. We know inductively : that was the sum 
of Bacon's teaching. In the sphere of outer Nature, 
the scholastic saying, Nihil est i7i intellectu quod non 
prius fuerit in se?isu, was accepted, but with this ad- 
dition, that the impressions on our senses were not 
themselves to be trusted. The mode of verifying 
, sense-impressions, and the grounds of valid and neces- 
sary inference, had to be investigated and applied. It 
is manifest that if we can tell hoiv it is we know, it 
follows that the method of intellectual instruction is 
scieiitificallv settled. 



20 THK RKNASCKNCE 

But Bacon not only represnted the urgent longing 
for a co-ordination of the sciences and for a new 
method; he also represented the weariness of words, 
phrases, and vain subtleties which had been gradually 
growing in strength since the time of Montaigne, Ludo- 
vicus Vives, and Erasmus. The poets, also, had been 
placing Nature before the minds of men in a new aspect. 
The Humanists, as we have said, while unquestionably 
improving the aims and procedure of education, had 
been powerless to prevent the tendency to fall once 
more under the dominion of words, and to revert to 
mere form. The realism of human life and thought, 
which constituted their raison d'etre, had been unable 
to sustain itself as a priniciple of action, because there 
was no school of method. It was the study of the 
realities of sense that was finally to place eduation on 
a scientific basis, and make reaction, as to method at 
least, impossible. 

The thought of any age determines the education of 
the age which is to succeed it. Education follows, it 
does not lead. The School and the Church alike 
march in the wake of science, philosophy, and political 
ideas. We see this illustrated in every epoch of 
human history, and in none so conspicuously as in 
the changes which occurred in the philosophy and edu- 
cation of ancient Rome during the lifetime of the elder 
Cato, and in modern times during the revival of letters 
and the subsequent rise of the Baconian induction. 
It is impossible, indeed for any great movement of 
thought to find acceptance without its telling to some 
extent on every department of the body politic. Its 



BACON THF FATHER OF RE}AUSM 21 

influence on the ideas entertained as to the education 
of the rising generation must be, above all, distinct 
and emphatic. Every philosophical writer on political 
science has recognized this, and has felt the vast signi- 
ficance of the educational system of a country both as 
an effect — the consequence of a revolution in thought — 
and as a cause, a moving force of incalculable power in 
the future life of a commonwealth. Thus it was that 
the Humanistic movement which preceded and ac- 
companied the Reformation of religion shook to its 
center the mediaeval school-system of Europe; and 
that subsequently the silent rise of the inductive spirit 
subverted its foundations. 

Bacon, though not himself a Realist in the modern 
and abused sense of that term, was the father of 
Realism. It was this side of his teaching which was 
greedily seized upon, and even exaggerated. Edu- 
cational zeal now ran in this channel. The conviction 
of the Churches of the time, that one can make men 
what one pleases (by fair means or foul), was shared 
by the innovators. By education, rightly conceived 
and rightly applied, the enthusiasts dreamed that they 
could manufacture men, and, in truth, the Jesuits had 
shown that a good deal could be done in this direction. 
The new enthusiasts failed to see that the genius of 
Protestantism is the genius of freedom, and that man 
refuses to be manufactured except on suicidal terms. 
He must first sacrifice that which is his distinctive title 
to manhood — his individuality and will. That the 
prophets of educational Realism should have failed to 
see this is not to be laid to their door as a fault ; it 



22 TH£ RENASCENCE 

merely shows that they belonged to their own time and 
not to ours. They failed then, as some fail now, to 
understand man and his education, because they break 
wdth the past. The record of the past is with them 
merely a record of blunders. The modern Humanist 
more wisely accepts it as the storehouse of the thoughts 
and life of human reason. In the life of Man each in- 
dividual of the race best finds his own true life. This 
is modern Humanism — the Realism of thought. 

Yet it is to the Sense-realists of the earlier half of the 
seventeenth century that we owe the scientific founda- 
tions of educational method, and the only indication of 
the true line of answer to the complaints of the time. 
In their hands sense-realism became allied with Prote- 
stant Theology, and pure Humanism disappeared. They 
were represented first by Wolfgang von Ratich, a native 
ofHolstein, born in 1 571. Ratich was a man of con- 
siderable learning. The distractions of Europe, and 
the want of harmony, especially among the Churchs of 
the Reformation, led him to consider how a remedy 
might be found for many existing evils. He thought 
that the remed3> r was to be found in an improved school- 
system— improved in respect both of the substance and 
method of teaching. In 161 2, accordingly, he laid 
before the Diet of the German Empire at Frankfort a 
Memorial in which he promised, 'with the help of God, 
to give instructions for the service and welfare of all 
Christendom : ' and to show— 

'1. How the Hebrew, Greek, L,atin, and other tongues many 
easily be taught and learned both by young and old, more 
thoroughly and in a shorter time. 

'2. How, not only in High Dutch, but also in other tongues a 



RATICH AND THE SENSE-REALISTS 23 

school may be established in which the thorough knowledge of 
all Arts and Sciences may be lcarne 1 and propagated. 

'3. How, in the whole kingdom, and the same speech, one 
and the same goverment, and, finally, one and the same religion, 
may be comtn odiously and peacefully maintained.' 

We speak of Ratich here, not with a view to the ex- 
position of his system, but merely as the pioneer of the 
modern inductive school, and as the predecessor of 
Comenius : and it will suffice, therefore, to sum up his 
leading principles as these are to be found stated by 
Schmidt and Von Raumer in their Histories : 

1. Everything according to the order and course of Nature. * 

2. Only one thing of a kind at a time. 2 

3. One thing often repeated (i. e. keep at the same thing, 
repeating it often.) 

4. Everything in the mother-tongue first : for in the mother- 
tongue resides this advantage, that the pupil has to think only 
of the thing he has to learn, and need not trouble himself with 
the language over and above. Out of the mother-tongue pass 
to other tongues. 

5. Everything without violence. For by compulsion and 
blows one disgusts 3-outh with studies, and causes them to assume 
an attitude of hostility to them. The pupil must not be afraid 
of the teacher, but love him, and hold him in honor, a result 
which will be found if the teacher rightly discharges his function. 

6. Nothing must be learned by rote, for intelligence and 
acuteness are absent from the pupil who gives himself much to 
rote-learning. 



1 The American translation should always be compared with 
the German ; e. g. the German of Von Raumer is ' Alles nach 
Ordnung oder Lauff der Natur,' which is translated 'Everything 
in its order, or the course of Nature. ' Schmidt says und not 
oder. 

2 The American translation says ' Only one thing at a time,* 
and it equally misses the point elsewhere. 



24 THK RENASCENCE 

7. Uniformity in all things, as well in the method of teach- 
ing as in the books, rules, etc. , so that the grammar of the vari- 
ous languages taught may be as much as possible harmonized. 

8. First a thing in itself, and \hen the way of it. Matter 
before form. Rules without matter confuse the understanding. 

9. Everything through experience and the investigation of 
particulars. 

The motto of the Ratichians was ' Per inductionem et experi- 
mentum omnia.'! 

Ratich's life was practically a failure. He did not 
succeed in his scholastic work, and this is to be ascribed 
to the following causes — (1) His character ; (2) the too 
purely theoretical groundwork of his scheme ; (3) the 
jealousy and opposition of others ; (4) his wrong ap- 
plication of his own principles ; (s)his want of that 
instinctive feeling for the art of teaching, which was 
conspicuous in his greater successor Comenius. He 
died in 1635, at the age of sixty-four. His scheme had 
meanwhile been most favorably received by many 
learned men, and had attracted the attention of the 
Princes of Central Europe. The University of Giessen 
reported favorably on his pretensions, and the Ratich- 
ians were by no means a small or uninfluential party 
in the schools and Universities of Europe. In those 
days some Universities seemed to take an interest in 
Education. 

The torch that fell from Ratich's hand was seized 
ere it touched the ground, by John Amos Comenius, 
who became the head, and still continues the head, of 
the Sense-realistic school. His works have a present 
and practical, and not merely an historical and specu- 
lative, signifiance. 

1 Raumer is a prejudiced writer, especially when dealing with 
Ratich and the ' moderns ' (as he calls them) generally. 



LIFE AND WORKS OF COMKNIUS. 



John Amos Comknius (Komenski) was born at Nivnitz, 
a village of Moravia, 1 on the 28th of March, 1592. 
His father was a miller. The family belonged to the 
sect of Reformed Christians known sometimes as the 
Bohemian, more generally as the Moravian, Brethren. 
This sect of Christians has never attained to great di- 
mensions, but it has been distinguished by an activity 
and zeal which have given it, notwithstanding the 
fewness of its members, a conspicuous place among 
religious communions . Although generally recognized 
as Lutherans, they connect themselves by direct 
ecclesastical descent with the Bohemian Reformer 
Huss, and have always preserved a distinct organiza- 
tion of their own. At the present day they number, it 
is believed, only about 5,000 communicants in Europe, 
and 7,000 in America They acknowledge an episco- 
pate, but their bishops have little power. Their chief 
characteristic seems always to have been a certain 
simplicity of faith, combined with an earnest personal 

1 Some say at Comna or Comnia (near Briinn, whence the 
surname Commenius or Comenius. The family name was in 
German T'opfer i. e. Potter. Comnia is in long, about 18 deg. 
B. from Greenwich, lat. 49 deg. Gindely simply says in the 
vicinity of Ungarisch-Brod. At the University of Heidelberg 
he was entered as a native of Nivnitz, a little village about a 
league from Ungarisch-Brod. 



(25) 



26 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

piety and a practical realization of the "brotherly rela- 
tion in which all the members of a common Christian 
Confession ought to stand to one another. 

Comenius is usually called an Austro-Sclav ; that is 
to say, a Sclav born within the the sovereignty of Aus- 
tria. His family, and he himself consequently, spoke 
the Bohemian or Czech tongue, which is a West-Sclav 
dialect, and is considered to be the best of all the 
Sclavonic forms. Huss may be said to have done for 
this dialect what Luther afterwards did for German. 

The young Comenius was born in troublous times. 
The European disturbances and complications arising 
out of the advance which the thought of man had made 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries — generally 
denoted by the terms ' Revival of Letters ' and the 
'Reformation of Religion,' or more generally' the 
Renascence,' — had already been in active operation 
for seventy years, and Comenius was growing old when 
the close of the Thirty Years' War gave Europe peace, 
after having made a great part of it a desert. Austria 
was at that time the great German power. Prussia, 
had no political existence, while Poland was a large 
and influential kingdom, including much of what is 
now Russia. 

Comenius 's parents died while he was still a child, 
and he was accordingly handed over to guardians. 
There appears to have been a little money left by the 
father — enough to help in the education and mainten- 
ance of the son . He received , however , only the limited 
amount of instruction obtainable in one of these 
elementary people's schools which were the fruit of 



HIS SIMPLE EARLY LIFE 27 

the Reformation — the school of Strassnick. This 
amounted to reading, writing, a knowledge of the 
Catechism, and of the smallest beginnings of arithmetic. 
He had reached his sixteenth year without having en- 
tered on the study of Latin — at that time still the 
indispensable instrument of all literature, and of inter- 
national communication among the learned. We are 
not to conclude from this that his guardians neglected 
his education. The community of which he was an 
orphan child had to raise up pastors for their own in- 
struction, and this necessity, independently of other 
considerations, would have led to the fostering of any 
boyish promise shown by young Comenius. It is 
probable that he was a child of slow growth. It was 
certainly not till his sixteenth }^ear that he began to 
feel and to show a desire for the life of a scholar. 
There was probably an advantage in this. Unvisited 
by ambitions which could carry him beyond the narrow 
limits of his own quiet community, his mind must have 
had time slowly and surely to imbibe the teachings of 
the simple Brotherhood to which he belonged, and to 
be thoroughly imbued with their earnest spirit. We 
see the effects of this upbringing conspicuous through- 
out his whole life. Simplicity, zeal, piety, self-sacri- 
fice, humility, are always present. The whole tenor 
of his life confirms his own confession that he was by 
nature of a retiring disposition, had more of fear than of 
hope in his constitution, that the part of innovator 
was one alien to him, and that he was keenly alive to 
the fact that those who think they have got some new 
light are often merely pursuing ignesfatui. ■ Nor yet, ' 



28 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

he adds, ' do I desire to belong to that class of men 
who cling to the old and the customary, spite of the 
indications of God Himself, Reason, and Common 
Sense,' 1 , 

Out of the Moravian evangelical soil he grew, and a 
Moravian in heart and soul he remained to the end. 
It is important to note this. We have already pointed 
out in the Introduction that the educational motive was 
in the first Reformation age partly literary or Human- 
istic, but chiefly religious or theological : in the second 
Reformation age, to which Comenius belonged, the 
intense conflict of opinion between the new and the 
old faith — made keener by the reaction to Catholicism 
under the influence mainly of the Jesuits — had driven 
the Humanistic element to the wall, and the theological 
aim now almost wholly obscured the literary. The 
torch of reason, lighted in the schools half a century 
previously, was now darkened by the smoke of theo- 
logical contentions and disastrous wars. Comenius 
was, above all things, a genuine representative of the 
evangelical spirit; he was not afraid of science — far 
from it : he endeavored to unite science and theology, 
— but he did not fairly appreciate Humanism, and 
accepted the products of the genius of past ages only 
in a half-hearted way. His eyes were turned to the 
present and the future. 

At sixteen Comenius went, or was sent, to a I^atin 
school, and in 1612, when he was twenty years of age, 
we find him at the College of Herborn in the dukedom 

1 Lectoribus, vol. i. 



SCHOOLS TH£ TERROR OF BOYS 29 

of Nassati, pursuing his theological studies under 
Professor Alsted, afterwards Professor of Theology 
and Philosophy at Weissenburg. To the lateness of 
the age at which he began Latin we probably partly owe 
Comenius's early insight into the defects of educational 
methods. He was old enough to criticise, while sub- 
mitting to, the scholastic discipline and defective modes 
of procedure, of which he was, with others, the victim. 
. There is no reason to believe that his school was worse 
than schools elsewhere at that time, and of these he 
says that 'they are the terror of boys, and the slaughter- 
houses of minds, — places where a hatred of literature 
and books is contracted , where ten or more years are 
spent in learning what might be acquired in one, where 
what ought to be poured in gently is violently forced 
in and beaten in, where what ought to be put clearly and 
perspicuously is presented in a confused and intricate 
way, as if it were a collection of puzzles, — places 
where minds are fed on words. ' Well might Professor 
Iyubinus of Rostock say that the instruction and dis- 
cipline of schools seemed to have been the invention of 
some wicked spirit, the enemy of the human race. 
' Millibus e muftis, ' he exclaims, 'ego quoque sum unus, 
miser homuncio, cui amcenissimum vitse ver, florentes 
juventutis anni, nugis scholastcis transmissi, misere 
perierunt. Ah, quo ties mihi postquam melius pros- 
picere datum, perditae aetatis recordatio, pectore sus- 
piria, oculis lachrymas, corde dolorem excussit. Ah, 
quoties me dolor ille exclamare coegit — 

'O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos.' 
Before Comenius left school, Ratich, of whom we 



30 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

have already spoken, was at work ; and it was in 1612, 
when Comenius was still at Herborn ? that the public 
document issued by the Universities of Jena and Gies- 
sen, commenting on Ratich's proposed innovations, first 
came under his notice. 1 The Ratichian scheme, on 
which specially the University laudation was pro- 
nounced, was printed/under the following title: Wolph- 
gangi Ratichii de Studiorum rectificanda metJiodo Con- 
silium. 

Comenius was profoundly attracted by the new edu- 
cational movement. 

After a year or more spent in travel, during which 
he resided at Amsterdam and studied at Heidelberg, 
he returned to his native Moravia in 1614. Being now 
twenty -two years of age, and being still too young for the 
ministry, he was appointed Rector of the Moravian 
school at Prserovium (Prerau), near Olmutz, where he 
at once endeavored to introduce improved methods of 
instruction and a more humane discipline. 

'Ten years,' he says, 2 are given to the study of the 
Latin tongue, and after all the result is disappointing. 
Erasmus, Vives, Luther, Sturm, Frisch, Sanctius, 
Domavius, have all complained of this. Boyhood is 
distracted,' he goes on to say, 'for years with precepts 
of grammar, infinitely prolix,, perplexed, and obscure, 
and for the most part useless. Boys are stuffed with 
vocabularies without associating words with things, or 
indeed with one another syntactically. ' It had been 
hoped that the substitution for barbarous Latinity of 

1 Preface to vol. i. 

- Preface to first edition ofth.eJamia Linguarmru 



HIS WORK AS TEACHER AND CLERGYMAN 31 
good authors, such as Terence, Cicero, Virgil, and 
Horace — the work of the Humanists, — would cure the 
universal evil by teaching boys the Latin tongue by 
means of its purest writers . But this had failed , partly 
because of the unpropitiousness of the time, but chiefly 
because the secret of education lies in method, and in 
the master who wields it. No attempt had been made 
to secure either sound method or good masters. What 
else but failure' could be expected? 

At Prerau Comenius began by simplifying the Latin 
Grammar, and wrote an elementary book for his pupils, 
which was afterwards published at Prague in 1616 
( Grammaticae facilioris praecepta) . 

In this year he was ordained to the pastorate, but 
whether this caused him to give up the school does not 
appear. 1 He was not appointed to any special charge 
till 1 618, when he was set over 'the most flourishing of -I 
all the churches of the Moravian Brethren, that of 
Fulneck,' near Troppau. Along with his ministerial 
charge, he had the superintendence of a school recently 
erected ; and he now began to consider more fully the 
subject of instruction, and to put his thoughts on pa- 
per. 2 Here too he married, and for two or three years 
spent a happy and active life, enjoying the only period 
of tranquillity in his native country which it was ever 
his fortune to experience. For the restoration of a time 
so happy he never ceased to pine during all his future 
wanderings . 

1 Dedication to Schola Ludus, vol. iii., p. 831. 

2 Preface to vol. i. 



32 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

The Thirity Years' War broke out, and in 1621 
Fuineck was taken by the Spaniards, and all the pro- 
perty of Comenius destroyed, including his library and 
manuscripts. 1 For the next three years Comenius 
seems to have resided, along with several other Mora- 
vian pastors, under the protection of Karl von Zerotin, 
a wealthy Moravian, and while there wrote a book 
entitled The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise 
of the Hearty an allegorical writing on the vanity of 
earthly things 2 . In 1622 he lost his wife and only 
child. In 1624 he and his fellow-pastors were com- 
pelled to leave the protection of Zerotin, and thereafter, 
evading as best they could the persecutions of the 
Jesuits, they wandered through various parts of Moravia 
and Bohemia, occasionally visiting their communities 
secretly, and preaching the Word and administering 
the Sacraments. 

In July 1627 the evangelical pastors in Moravia and 
Bohemia were formally proscribed by the Austrian 
Government, acting under the instigation of the Jes- 
uits . Some took refuge among the Bohemian moun- 
tains with Baron Sadouski von Slaupna. To one of 
the pastors who took refuge there — John Stadius by 
name — the Baron intrusted his three sons for their 
education. For the benefit of the tutor, and at his 

1 Seyffart says that on this occasion he also lost his wife and two 
children, but Comenius himself does not mention this in his 
Preface to vol. i. Seyffart has doubtless other authority for 
what he says. I confine myself solely to what can be ascertained 
by collating Comenius 's own writings. 

^Printed at Ijssa in 1631. 



KABXY ASPIRATIONS AS AN AUTHOR 33 

request, Comenius wrote some rules of method. In 
the autumn of that year he paid a visit to Wilcitz, not 
far off, to look at the library there. Among the 
books he unexpectedly met with the treatise of Blias 
Bodinus, recently imported from Germany, and was 
fired with the ambition to produce a like work in his 
own Bohemian tongue. In this ambition he was sus- 
tained by the approval, and indeed solicitations, of his 
fellow-refugees, who were convinced that he had much 
to say that would be of value to schools and school- 
masters. While engaged in this didactic work, he was 
disturbed by a new edict requiring all the evangelical 
pastors to renounce their faith, or finally leave the 
country. Churches and schools were ruthlessly de- 
stroyed. Comenius from his retreat was a witness j 
from time to time of the acts of the persecutors, and 
was overwhelmed with grief. He still, however, de- 
sired to live within reach of the brethren of his com- 
munity, and did not leave the mountains, where he 
thought he might possibly escape observation. His 
active and practical mind began at once to consider 
how he should proceed to restore religion and piety 
should he ever be free again to work for his native 

country. His didactic studies suggested to him thak- 

the great agency for a future renovation lay in schools, 
and he consoled himself with this reflection, and with 
forming sanguine schemes for the future. His sole de- 
sire now was to devote his life entirely to the young, 
should it please God to restore him to his country, and 
by the institution of schools, by supplying them with 
good books, and with a simple and lucid method, to 



34 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

build up, more surely than before, learning, virtue and 
piety. Meanwhile by secret communications with his 
brethren he tried to sustain their sinking spirits. The 
persecution, however, waxed hotter, and finding it im- 
possible longer to continue in his concealment, he and 
his companions fled, dispersing in different directions. 
Comenius made for Poland, which he had once before 
visited on a secret mission, having been sent thither 
by the Moravian Brethren — probably in order to as- 
certain if they could find an asylum in that country. 
He betook himself to the town of Les?ia (I^issa, 
L,eszno), in Posnania, and obtained employment as a 
teacher in the Moravian Gymnasium there — appar- 
ently as Rector of it. 1 The Count of Lissa (Rafael) 
afforded protection to the persecuted brethren. His 
scholastic engagements, and the desire to do his duty 
in an efficient way, gave a fresh impulse to his didactic 
studies. He began to reconstruct his methods from 
/the foundation, and to give them a philosophic basis 
and a logical coherence. 

Not only had the general question of Education en- 
gaged many minds for a century and more before 
Comenius arose, but the apparently subsidiary, yet all- 
important question of Method, in special relation to the 
teaching of the I^athi tongue, had occupied the. thoughts 
and pens of many of the leading scholars of Europe. 
The whole field of what we now call Secondary In- 

1 In the Dictionnaire de Pedagogie his scholastic function is 
described as being that of organizer of the education of the 
Moravian Colony only. That his duties were of a more general 
kind is clear from his own writings. 



HIS SEARCH FOR A MKTHOD 35 

straction was occupied with the one subject of Latin ; 
Greek, and occasionally Hebrew, having been admitted 
only in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and 
then only to a subordinate place. This of necessity. 
Latin was the onejkey to universal learning. To give 
to boys the possession of this key was all that teachers 
aimed at until their pupils were old enough to study 
Rhetoric and Logic. Of these writers on the teaching 
of Latin, the -most eminent were Sturm, Erasmus, 
Melanchthon, Lubinus, Vossius, Sanctius (the author 
of \h& Minerva), Ritter, Helvicus, Bodinus, Valentinus 
Andreae,and, among Frenchmen, Ccecilius Frey. 1 Nor 
were Ascham and Mulcaster in England the least sig- 
nificant of the critics of Method. Comenius was ac- 
quainted with almost all previous writers on education, 
except probably Ascham and Mulcaster, to whom he 
never alludes. He read everything that he could hear 
of with a view to find a method, and he does not appear 
ever to have been desirous to supersede the work of 
others. If he had found what he wanted, he would, 
we believe, have promulgated it, and advocated it as a 
loyal pupil. That he owed much to previous writers 
is certain; but the prime characteristic of his work on 
Latin was his own. Especially does he introduce a 
new epoch in education, by constructing a general 
methodology which should go beyond mere Latin, and 
be equally applicable to all subjects of instruction. 
Before bringing his thoughts into definite shape, he 

1 Frey published at Paris in 1629 an educational treatise 
entitled Ad divas scientias, artesque, etlinguas sermonesque ex- 
temporaneas nova et expeditissima [via]. 



36 BIOGRAPHY OF COM^NIUS 

wrote to all the distinguished men to whom he could 
obtain access. He addressed Ratich, among others, 
but received no answer; many of his letters also were 
returned, because tlie persons addressed could not be 
found. x Valentinus Andrese wrote to him in encourag- 
ing terms, saying that he gladly passed on the torch 
to him. His mind became now much agitated by the 
importance of the question and by the excitement of 
discovery. He saw his whole scheme assuming shape 
under his pen and was filled, like other zealous men, 
before and since, with the highest hopes of the benefits 
which he would confer on the whole human race by 
his discoveries. He resolved to call his treatise Di- 
dactica Magna, or Om?ies omnia docendi Artificium. 
He found a consolation for his misfortunes in the work 
of invention, and even saw the hand of Providence in 
the coincidence of the overthrow of schools through 
persecutions and wars, and those ideas of a new 
method which had been vouchsafed to him, and which 
he was elaborating. Everything might now be begun 
anew, and untrammelled by the errors and prejudices 
of the past. Some scruples as to a theologian and 
pastor being so entirely preoccupied with educational 
questions, he had however to overcome. 2 'Suffer, I 
pray, Christian friends, that I speak confidentially with 
you for a moment. Those who know me intimately, 
know that I am a man of moderate ability, and of al- 

1 Among his correspondents were Sigmund Evenius, Abra- 
ham Mencel, Paliurus, Jonston, Mochinger, Docem, Georgp 
Winkler, Martin Moser, and Niclassius. 
edoribus, vol. i. p. 7. 



" DID ACTA MAGNA " 37 

most no learning, but one who, bewailing the evils of 

his time, is eager to remedy them, if this in any way 

be granted me to do, either by my own discoveries or 

by those of another — none of which things can come 

save from a gracious God. If, then, anything be here 

found well done, it is not mine, but His, who from the 

mouths of babes and sucklings hath perfected praise, 

and who, that He may in verity show Himself faithful, 

true, and gracious, gives to those who ask, opens to 

those who knock, and offers to those who seek. Christ 

my Lord knows that my heart is so simple that it 

matters not to me whether I teach or be taught, act the 

part of teacher of teachers, or disciple of disciples. 

What the Lord has given me I send forth for the 

common good,' His deepest conviction was that the 

sole hope of healing the dissensions of both Church 

and State lay in the proper education of youth. The 

tex v v rexvoov avQpGortov ayeivof Gregory Nazianzen was 

with him a favorite quotation. At the same time, he 

did not profess, as we have said, to supersede all 

others ; on the contrary, he truly and wisely says, 

'Artem artium tradere operosae molis res est, exquisi- 

toque eget judicio ; nee unius hominis sed multorum, 

quum unus nemo tarn sit oculatus cujus aciem non 

subterfugiant plurima.' 

When he had completed his Great Didactic, he did 

not publish it, for he was still hoping to be restored to 

his native Moravia, where he proposed to execute all 

his philanthropic schemes ; indeed, the treatise was 

first written in his native Sclav or Czech tongue. x 

1 Found in the archives of L,issa in 1841 , and republished in 
its Czech form in 1849 by a Bohemian Society. 



38 BIOGRAPHY OF COM^NIUS 

While thus engaged in working out his theory and 
method of education, Comenius had been searching for 
some elementary Latin reading-book, which might 
introduce boys easily to the use of the Latin tongue. 

In addition to the 'defects already universally recog- 
nized in the teaching of Latin, Comenius pointed out 
that, even supposing the usual classical authors were 
read and mastered, a boy would not then know the 
Latin words expressing the things and ideas of his own 
time. 'Finally, if so much time is to be spent on the 
language alone,' he says, 'when is the boy to know 
about things — when will he learn philosophy, when 
religion, and so forth? He will consume his life in 
preparing for life.' Some epitome of the language is. 
wanted, in which the v/ords and phrases will be reduced 
to one body, as it were, and in this way much time 
saved in acquiring them. For, as Isaac Habrecht truly 
said, one would learn to know all the animals of the 
world more quickly by visiting Noah's ark than by 
traversing the world and picking up knowledge as we 
went. 

To meet this want, a member of the Irish College of 
Salamanca (Bateus by name) had written a Janzia 
Linguarum, comprising in one lesson-book all the more 
usual words, and these connected into sentences so 
constructed that no vocable occurred more than once, 
except such indispensable words as sum, et, in, etc. 
This book was in Latin-Spanish, and was shortly after, 
in 1615, published in Latin-English in London. Two 
years after Isaac Habrecht of Strasburg published a 
Latin-Spanish-English- French edition, and so made it 



" JANUA LINGUARUM " 4 39 

quadrilingual, and on his return to Germany added a 
German version, strongly commending it as an excellent 
means of learning a language. The work was frequently 
republished in many parts of Germany, was introduced 
into many schools, and ultimately, in 1629, appeared 
in eight languages. 

At first Comenius hailed this book with pleasure 
but after carefully studying it, came to the conclusion 
that it did not justify its title ; and this, Jirst, because 
'it contained many words beyond the capacity of the 
young, while omitting many in daily use ; secondly, 
because the words, which were used only once, were 
used in one signification only, whereas they constantly, 
in native authors, have more than one meaning, and 
thus pupils are misled ; and thirdly, because, where one 
signification is alone given, it ought always to be the 
primary one, which in the book in question was not the 
case. There were other objections to the book: the 
sentences did not contribute to the moral instruction 
of youth, and were clumsy; and, indeed, even often, 
destitute of meaning. 

' My fundamental principle — an irrefragable law of 
didactics — is,' he says, in speaking of his own Janua y 
1 that the understanding and the tongue should advance 
in parallel lines always. The human being tends to 
utter what he apprehends. If he does not apprehend 
the words he uses, he is a parrot; K he apprehends 
without words, he is a dumb statue. Accordingly, 
under 100 heads, I have classified the whole universe 
of things in a manner suited to the capacity of boys, 
and I have given the corresponding language. I have 



40 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

selected from Lexicons the words that had to be intro- 
duced, and I include 8,000 vocables in 1,000 sentences, 
which are at first simple, and thereafter gradually 
become complex. I have used words, as far as practi- 
cable, in their primary signification, according to the 
comprehension of the young, but have had to seek for 
modern Latin words where pure Latin was not to be had. 
I have used the same word only once, except where it 
had two meanings. Synonyms and contraries I have 
placed together, so that they may throw light on one 
another. I have arranged the words so as to bring 
into view concords and governments and declension. 
The vernacular text (Czech or Bohemian) I have printed 
separately on this occasion, as it would be useless to 
many whose judgments on my efforts I desire to have. 
An index of the words (not however absolutely neces- 
sary) will be afterward added; also a brief treatise on 
homonyms, synonyms, etc., and a short, compendious, 
simple, and easy grammar — all of which, comprised in 
one volume, will be a little treasure-house of school- 
learning. ' 

Three years were spent on. the Janua alone, and yet 
Comenius was far from thinking the work perfect; he 
considered he had only led the way for others. He 
hoped also himself, from time to time, to improve the 
book. 

He called this little book a 'Seminary of tongues 
and all Sciences, ' because equal care had been given to 
things and words. He desired to introduce some be- 
ginnings and clear perception of things, and at the 



HIS ELECTION AS BISHOP 41 

same time to lay the foundations of learning, morals 
and piety. 

Speaking generally, we may say that Comenius's aim 
was— -first, to simplify and graduate; secondly, to teach 
words through things; thirdly, to teach things through 
words. The book was a very remarkable innovation 
on the then existing school text-books; but notwith- 
standing this, or because of it, when he published it in 
1 63 1, at the urgent solicitation of his friends, and be- 
fore, in his opinion, it was perfected, it achieved an 
immediate and enormous success. 'People, ' he says, * 
'seemed to vie with one another in producing editions 
of it. ' It was translated into Greek, Bohemian, Polish, 
German, Swedish, Belgian, English, French, Spanish, 
Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Arabic, and into a lan- 
guage -which he calls Mogolic, 'and which,' he says, 
'was familiar to the population of India. ' He next, 
in 1633, published his Vestibulum, which was intended 
to serve as an easy introduction to the Ja?iua. 

In 1632 there was convened a synod of the Moravian 
Brethren at Lissa, at which Comenius (now forty years 
of age) was elected to succeed his father-in-law Cyril- 
lus as Bishop of the scattered brethren — a position 
which enabled him to be of great service, by means of 
correspondence, to the members of the community, who 
were dispersed in various parts of Europe. Through- 
out the whole of his long life he continued his fatherly 
charge, and seemed never quite to abandon the hope 
of being restored, along with his fellow-exiles, to his 
native land — a hope doomed to disappointment. In 

dedication of Schola Ludus, vol. iii. 



42 BIOGRAPHY OF COM^NIUS 

his capacity of Pastor- Bishop he wrote several treatises,, 
such as a History of the Persecutions of the Brotherhood ', 
an account of the Moravian Church- discipline and 
Order, and polemical tracts against a contemporary 
Socinian. 

Meanwhile his great Didactic treatise, which had. 
been written in his native Czech tongue, was yet un- 
published. He was, it would appear, stimulated to the 
publication of it by an invitation he received in 1638, 
from the authorities in Sweden, to visit their country 
and undertake the reformation of their schools. 1 He 
replied that he was unwilling to undertake a task at 
once so onerous and so invidious, but that he would 
gladly give the benefit of his advice to any one of their 
own nation whom they might select for the duty. 
These communications led him to resume his labor on 
the great Didactic, and to translate it into Latin, in 
which form it finally appeared. 2 

^j In education Comenius was a Sense-Realist — the 
first great and thoroughly consistent Realist. Von 
Raumer says: ' He received his first impulse in this 
direction, as he himself relates, from the well-known 
Spanish pedagogue, Iyudovic Vives, who declared him- 
self against Aristotle, and demanded a Christian instead 
of a heathen mode of philosophizing. ' ' It is not dis- 
putation which leads to any result,' said Vives, 'but 

1 Preface to vol. i. 

2 1 cannot find the precise date. In the Dictionnaire de Peda- 
gogic it is stated that the work, though completed at the time 
stated in the above, was not published till 1657. I think this is. 
a mistake. 



PUBLICATION OF ' ' TH3 GREAT DIDACTIC ' ' 43 

the silent observation of Nature. It is better for the 
scholars to ask questions and to investigate than to be 
disputing with each other.' 'Yet,' says Comenius, 
'Vives understood better where the fault lay than 
what was the remedy.' 

Comenius received a second impulse from Thomas 
Campanella, who, however, did not satisfy him. ' But 
when,' he says, ' Bacon's Instauratio Magna came into 
my hands — a wonderful work, which I consider the 
most instructive philosophical work of the century 
now beginning — I saw in it that Campanella 's demon- 
strations are wanting in that thoroughness which is 
demanded by the truth of things. Yet again I was 
troubled because the noble Verulam, while giving the 
true key of Nature, did not unlock her secrets, but 
only showed, by a few examples, how they should be 
unlocked, and left the rest to future observations to be 
extended through centuries.' He goes on, in the pre- 
face to the Physics, from which these utterances are 
taken , to say that he is convinced that it is not Aris- 
totle who must be master of philosophy for Christians, 
but that philosophy must be studied fully according to 
the leading of sense, reason, and books. 'For,' he 
continues, 'do we not dwell in the garden of Nature 
as well as ths ancients ? Why should we not use our 
eyes, ears, and noses as well as they ? And why 
should we need other teachers than these our senses to 
learn to know the works of Nature? Why, say I, 
should we not, instead of these dead books, lay open 
the living book of Nature, in which there is much more 
to contemplate than any one person can ever relate,, 



44 BIOGRAPHY OF COMKNIUS 

and the contemplation of which brings much more of 
pleasure, as well as of profit ?' It is this realism which 
explains his school-books and also his method. 

It was natural that the strong realistic impulse 
should travel beyond the sphere of schools, and cause 
men to dream of great things. The Advancement of 
Learning had filled Comenius, as well as other con- 
temporary men, with hopes of a rapid and unparalleled 
progress in all the sciences, and a consequent improve- 
ment of the conditions of human life. With a view to 
a thorough co-ordination and universal diffusion of 
scientific knowledge, he contemplated the issuing of a 
complete body of science as then understood. To 
effect this, the combination of many minds, each in 
its own department, and all under the guidance of some 
controlling intellect, was necessary. Men were working 
in various parts of Europe independently of each other, 
and, the younger men especially, in ignorance of what 
had been actually accomplished in the sciences to which 
they devoted themselves. An exhaustive but concise 
and authoritative statement of all that was known in 
each department could not fail to be of immense service, 
and, as Comenius thought, for his mind was always 
practical, of great influence on the progress and well- 
being of society. This complete statement of the 
circle of knowledge he called Pansophia, and it was in 
this direction that his real life-work lay, in his own 
opinion; his scholastic undertakings being strictly 
subordinate to the greater task. 

Although not prepared to give effect to his views in 
proper form, he had been working at the Pansophy in 



ASSOCIATION WITH SAMUKI, HARTUB 45 

the retirement of his study during the years which saw 
the completion of the first edition of his Janua and 
of his Great Didactic. In the department of Science 
he had already given to the world a treatise on Astron- 
omy and on the reforming of Physics (1633). He 
had also, by correspondence, interested various learned 
men in his encyclopaedic or pansophic scheme ; among 
others, Samuel Hartlib, the friend of Milton, who was 
.then resident in London, and to whom Milton addressed 
his Tractate on Education. 

'Everybody knew Hartlib,'* says Professor Masson 
in his Life of Milton (vol. iii, p. 193). 'He was a 
foreigner by birth, being the son of a Polish merchant 
of German extraction, who had left Poland when that 
country fell under Jesuit rule, and had settled in Elbing 
in Prussia in very good circumstances. Twice married 
before to Polish ladies, this merchant had married in 
Prussia, for his third wife, the daughter of a wealthy 
English merchant of Dantzic ; and thus our Hartlib, 
their son, though Prussian born, and with Polish con- 
nections, could reckon himself half- English. The date 
of his birth was probably about the beginning of the 
century, i. e. he may have been eight or ten years 
older than Milton. He appears to have first visited 
England in or about 1628, and from that time, though 
he made frequent journeys to the Continent, London 
had been his headquarters. Here, with a residence in 

* The Memoir of Hartlib by M. Dircks should be read by 
those wishing to know more of the English experience of Com- 
enius. It is a scarce book, but a few copies may still be purchased 
of the publisher of this volume. 



43 BIOGRAPHY OF COMKNIUS 

the City, he had carried on business as a " merchant,'* 
with extensive foreign correspondences and very re- 
spectable family connections. But it did not require 
such family connections to make Hartlib at home 
in English society. The character of the man would 
have made him at home anywhere. He was one of 
those persons now styled "philanthropists," or 
"friends of progress," who take an interest in every 
question or project of their time promising social im- 
provement, have always some iron in the fire, are con- 
stantly forming committees or writing letters to per- 
sons of influence, and altogether live for the public. 
By the common consent of all who have explored the 
intellectual and social history of England in the seven- 
teenth century, he is one of the most interesting and 
memorable figures of that whole period. He is inter- 
esting both for what he did himself, and also on ac- 
count of the number and intimacy of his contacts with 
other interesting people.' Hartlib was not slow to be 
interested in the educational ideas of Comenius, but he 
was especially inspired by the two leading projects of 
the time — the Union of Protestant Christendom, and, 
by help of this, the settlement of nations ; and the 
union of the sciences in a complete enclycopaedic form. 
Comenius, at his request, had sent him a long epistle, 
setting forth in full his Pansophic project, and this 
epistle was printed at Oxford in 1637, without Co- 
menius 's consent, and widely circulated. The treatise 
was called by Hartlib Porta Sapientiae reserata. It is 
entitled by Comenius in the List of Contents (vide Col- 
lected Works) Prodromus Pansophiae (Precursor of 



47 

Pansophy) and in the body of his works, Pansophiae 
Praeludium, quo Sapientiae universalis necessitas, possi- 
bilitas facilitasque (si ratione certa ineatur) breviter ac 
dilucide demonstratur. The running head-title of the 
treatise again is Pansopkici Lib?d Delineatio. To meet 
the objection of critics, Comenius shortly after wrote a 
brief treatise further expounding his views, entitled 
Conatuum pansophicorum dilucidatio in gratiam Censo- 
rum facte (1638). 

These treatises excited much interest throughout 
Europe. Adolph Tassius, Professor of Mathematics 
at Hamburg, wrote to HartlhV saying : 'A philosophic 
ardor flames in every corner of Europe, and with it 
zeal for a better Didactic. If Comenius had done 
nothing more than scatter such fruitful seeds in the 
minds of all, he would have done enough.' 

The reception accorded to the Pansophic ideas of 
Comenius was encouraging enough, but it was apparent 
to all, and to none more than Comenius, that they 
could be carried out only by a community or college of 
learned men, and that this college would have to be 
a permanent institution for the furtherance of science, 
and for the authoritative promulgation from time to 
time of the scientific status quo. A Collegium Didac- 
ticum or Pansophicum was accordingly projected. It 
might have been urged that the Universities existed 
for these very purposes, but it is (it appears to me) a 
mistake to suppose that these institutions had as yet 
thought of the prosecution of science as the main end 
of their institution . Except in so far as they were sem- 
( x Vol. i.,p. 455.) 



48 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

inaries of 'Disputations,' they were to a large extent 
merely higher academies for giving instruction to qual- 
ify for the various faculties and professions: and to 
convert them intoacenters of scientific research and il- 
lumination would not have been in those days possible, 
although it would have been quite in harmony with 
their original design. It is only in recent times that 
the purely scientific idea has found its way into the 
heart of the University system, and that Professors are 
expected to represent and advance their subject as well 
as to afford instruction in it to all comers. The com- 
bination of the scientific with the teaching function 
constitutes, indeed, the ideal of a University system. 
There was, in the beginning of the Seventeenth century, 
no way open to Comenius and his friends save by the 
foundation of an entirely new institution. For this, 
money was wanted, and also influential support. 

At the urgent solicitation of the sanguine Hartlib, 
who had been busying himself among members of the 
Long Parliament, Comenius repaired to London, which 
he reached on the 226. September, 1641. There he 
found that he had been invited by Parliament itself; 
but as it was prorogued for a few months owing to King 
Charles's absence in Scotland, he had to wait. Heem- 
plo3 r ed his time well in expounding his views to 
various people of influence, and on the re-assembling 
of Parliament he was asked to wait a little longer, until 
a commission of learned men could be appointed to 
inquire into his proposals. Parliament even went so 
far as to propose to set apart the revenues and buildings 
of a college in London, or Winchester, or Chelsea, to 



LUDOVIC DK GKER -.J 

which men might be called from various parts of the 
world, and maintained in residence while prosecuting 
their learned researches, and giving effect to Comenius's 
great Pansophic scheme. A statement of the revenues 
of Chelsea College was even placed in Comenius's 
hands, and he now began to entertain lively expecta- 
tions that ere long the ideas of the great Verulam would 
be realized, and a 'universal college opened, solely de- 
voted to the advancement of the sciences.' The gen- 
eral unsettlement of affairs, aggravated by the Irish 
rebellion and the massacre of the Protestants, did not 
admit, however, of the carrying out of any peaceful 
project. The country was on the eve of a rebellion, and 
the leaders in Parliament could scarcely be expected to 
find time for any save the greatest national and politi- 
cal affairs. Everything was in confusion, and Comen- 
ius, deeply disappointed, prepared to return to the 
Continent. 

It was precisely at this moment that he received, 
from a correspendent and admirer in Sweden, a letter 
which led him to change his plans. The name of this 
friend, who plays an important part in Comenius's 
future life, was I/udovic de Geer, a man of noble 
family, of considerable wealth, and, happily , also of an 
enlightened and progressive mind. He was a Dutch- 
man settled in Sweden. He assured Comenius that his 
personal influence would enable him to promote his 
views in Sweden (at that time ruled by Christina and 
the famous Chancellor Oxenstiern) , and that he could 
secure the co-operation of others. In accepting this 
invitation, Comenius had the approval of his English 



50 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

friends, but as De Geer had evidently in view the 
Didactic rather than the Pansophic innovations of 
Comenius, they protested by anticipation against his 
being drawn aside from what they considered to be 
the larger aim to the more restricted subject of school- 
books. 

Comenius left London for Sweden in August, 1642, 
and was kindly received by De Geer at Nordkoping, * 
After a few days spent with his host, he was sent on 
to Stockholm with introductions to Oxenstiern and to 
John Skyte, Chancellor of the University of Upsala. 
By both he was treated with respect, and his plans, 
Pansophic and Didactic, fully discussed. Of his inter- 
views Comenius himself gives an account in the Pre- 
face to the second volume of his works. ' For four 
days,' he says, ' these two men held me in debate, but 
chiefly Oxenstiern, that eagle of the North (Aquilona- 
ris Aquila), who questioned me as to my principles, 
both Pansophic and Didactic, with a greater pene- 
tration and closeness than had been exhibited by any 
of the learned with whom I had come in contact. 
For the first three days Didactic was the subject of his 
examination, and he brought the interviews to an end 
with the following remarks: " From youth up I have 
perceived a certain violence in the customary method 
of school studies, but I could never put my finger on the 
place where the shoe pinched. When sent by my King, 
of glorious memory, 2 as an ambassador to Germany, I 
conferred with many learned men on the subject; and 

1 On the Baltic, eighty-five miles south-west of Stockholm. 
-^Gustavus Adolphus. 



DEBATE WITH OXENSTIERN 51 

when I was informed that Wolfgang Ratich had at- 
tempted a reform of Method, I had no peace in my 
mind till I had the man before me; but he, instead of 
a conversation, presented me with a huge book in 
quarto. I swallowed that annoyance, and having run 
through the whole volume, I saw that he had exposed 
the diseases of schools not badly, but as for the 
remedies, they did not seem to me to be adequate. 
Your remedies rest on firmer foundations; go on with 
your work," etc. To which I replied that in these 
matters I had done what I could, and that now I 
wished to pass to other matters. His answer was: 
" I know that you are undertaking greater things, for 
I have read the Prodromus of your Pansophia, and on 
this point we shall talk to-morrow, for public duties 
now call me elsewhere. ' ' On the following day, when 
about to examine my Pansophic labors, but with a 
greater aspect of severity, he prefaced his examination 
with this question: c 'Can you bear contradiction?" 
' ' I can, ' ' I replied. ' ' The Prodromus was published 
not by me but by my friends, for the very purpose of 
receiving opinions and criticisms: and if we admit 
these from any and every quarter, of whatsoever kind, 
why not from men of matured wisdom and of eminent 
judgment?" He then began to speak against the 
hopes I had conceived of a better state of things as 
likely to arise from a rightly instituted Pansophic 
study, first making political objections of profound im- 
port, and then bringing forward the testimony of Holy 
Writ, which seems to predict that darkness and de- 
eeneracy rather than light and an improved state of 



52 BIOGRAPHY OF COMKNIUS 

society would prevail towards the end of the world. 
My replies he received in the spirit indicated by his 
concluding remarks : "To no one yet, I think, have 
such things occurred. Stand on these foundations, for 
either we shall reach a consensus of opinion in the way 
you propose, or it will be made clear that there is no 
way. Nevertheless my advice is that you devote your- 
self first to benefit schools and to make the study of 
Latin easier, and by that means to prepare a smoother 
way for the greater things." 

The Chancellor of the University added the weight 
of his advice to the same effect, suggesting that Come- 
nius should move to a locality near Sweden, such as 
Klbing, on the Baltic coast of Prussia. Finding that 
his friend De Geer was of the same mind, he yielded, 
in the hope of bringing these troublesome and vexatious 
toils to a close in a year or two. When he communi- 
cated his resolution to his friends in England, he re- 
ceived a strong protest. They complained of his too 
great facility in 3^ielding to his Swedish advisers, and of 
his unfaithfulness to the great Pansophic scheme. 'Quo 
moriture ruis?' wrote Hartlib. 'Minoraque viribus 
audes?' He was much shaken by these representations 
— the more that they supported his" own real inclina- 
tions. A Swedish remonstrance, however, reached him 
at Lesna, which finally determined him to go to Klbing 
and prosecute his Didactic labors. To these he now 
devoted himself, after first putting to press, in 1643, a * 
Danzig, a treatise on Pansophia, entitled Pansophiae 
Diaiyposis, Ichnographica et Orthographica, a work 
afterwards republished at Amsterdam and Paris. 



NEWEST METHOD OF LANGUAGES ' ' 53 

When, in his retirement at Elbing, where he was 
supported by De Geer, he had labored at his Didactic 
treatises for nearly four years — 'rolling his Sisyphsean 
stone/ as he calls it — he again visited Sweden (1646) 
with his manuscripts, and having submitted them to a 
commission of three judges, was directed to publish 
them as soon as he had given them his last touches. 
Two years, however, of hard labor on the Lexicons 
and Grammars which were to accompany his books 
still awaited him, and it was only in 1648 that he was 
in a position to publish. At this time he returned to 
his Polish home at Lesna, the proper centre of his 
episcopal work, and at the Lesna press the fruits of 
his labors were printed. 

A complete list of the works which were the fruit of 
those six years' labors will be found at the end of this 
memoir, under their proper titles. They included the 
most elaborate of all his treatises on Method, except 
his great Didactic, viz., The Newest Method of Lan- 
guages solidly based on Didactic Foundations, and a 
specimen of a Vestibulum, for the final shape of which 
he refers his readers to the Vestibulum afterwards re- 
vised at Patak in Hungary : also a new edition of the 
Janua, for which also his readers are referred to its 
final and completed form as revised at Patak; 1 a Latin- 
vernacular Grammar for the Janua, with appended 
annotations for the use of teachers — a very clear, 
complete, and yet brief work compared with the Gram- 

1 Both Vestibulum and Janua were, however, printed at Lesna 
before he went to Patak, as appears from vol. iii, in the Dedi- 
catory Epistle prefixed to the Schola Ludus. 



54 BIOGRAPHY OF COM^NIUS 

mars of the time; and a Latin-German Lexicon, pub- 
lished later, in 1656, at Frankfort, and not included in 
the collected works, as being too cumbrous. A more 
advanced school-book , entitled Atrium Linguae Latinae> 
he had just begun when he was called into Hungary, 
where it was completed. The imperfections of these 
books, as indeed of all his writings, he is always ready 
to admit, pleading that no one man could all at once 
correct the mistakes of the past, place education on a. 
right basis, and furnish the school with proper instru- 
ments of teaching. 

While still engaged in the completion of the works 
which belong to this Elbing period, when he was sub- 
sidized by De Geer, he received many testimonials from 
men high in position as to the value of his labors. 
An interesting correspondence with the Palatine of 
Pos?iania, "Christoph. Opalinski de Buin,' himself an 
author and a vigorous promoter of education in his 
own country, was lost in the destruction of Lesna by 
the Swedish army, in 1655, under Charles X. — an in- 
vasion which destroyed also the gymnasium at Sirak- 
ovia, which Opalinski had founded and supplied with 
translations of Comenius's school-books,' 1 

The products of the six years of Kbling industry he 
dedicated to De Geer. 

Having discharged his obligations to his Swedish 
friends in the department of Didactics, he was about 
now, at last, to apply himself exclusively to the greater 
Pansophic schemes, and was contemplating future la- 
bors in this direction with much complacency, when 
( x Judicia y novaeque disquisitiones. — Vol. ii. of Works, p. 458.) 



REMOVAL TO PATAK 55 

he received a letter from the Prince Sigismund Ra- 
cocus, 1 and his widowed mother, the Princess of Tran- 
sylvania, urging him to advise in the reformation of the 
schools in their country. The requests of mother and 
son were enforced by communications from theologians, 
and were favorably entertained by him because of the 
kindness shown in Transylvania to exiled Moravians. 
Accordingly, in May 1650, he betook himself to Saros- 
Patak, a market-town of Hungary, on the Bodrogh, 
and thence, along with their Highnesses, to Tokay, 
twenty miles to the north-east. It was in this year 
that he published his Lux in Tenebris, a book on the 
fulfillment of modern prophecy, and became entangled 
with one Dabricius, 2 who gave himself out as a prophet 
and gained a certain following. This weakness in Co- 
menius may be touched with a gentle hand. His theo- 
logical writings show that he had strong mystical lean- 
ings, and in later life he was a devoted admirer of 
Madame Bourignon, to whom, indeed, he stood in 
personal relations. 

^ The form which his scholastic labors now took com- 
bined the Didactic with the Pansophic more fully than 
hitherto. Being asked to put his idea of a Pansophic 
1 George I., Ragotzski, Prince of Transylvania. This coun- 
try was not incorporated in the Austrian dominions till 1699. 
Hungary accrued to Austria in 1526, and became heriditary in 



1687. 



2 For an account of Dabricius and Kotterus, see Bayle'S 
Dictionary. Their productions were largely embodied in Co- 
menius's book. The date of the publication of Lux in Tenebris 
is given variously. This is doubtless due to the confounding 
of the Czech and Latin editions. 



56 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

school in writing, he printed his Illustris Scholae Paia- 
kinae Idea, and thereafter in full detail his Scholae 
Pansophicae classibus septem adornandae Delineatio. 
During his residence at Patak, which lasted till 1654, 
he produced fifteen works, among which were the new 
editions of the Vestibulum and Janua, the first edition 
of the Atrium, the famous Or bis Pictus (World Illus- 
trated), 1 and the Schola Ludus. 

These text books are described in the account of 
Comenius's educational views which follows this sketch 
of his life and labors. The most characteristic and 
important of the works of this period was the Schola 
Pansophica, or Universalis Sapientiae Officina, an ac- 
count of which will also be found in its proper place. 
He desired to make the new Patak seminary not mere- 
ly a Pansophic school, but also to give it the character 
of a Latin state, nay, even of Latium itself. Nothing 
but Latin was to be spoken. 2 This was practicable, 
because he contemplated a college in which all the 
pupils should dwell together. 

His patrons did all they could to fulfill their prom- 
ises of support. They gave him a collegiate building, 
and, in addition to this, they purchased the fourth house 
from the college for the school. Comenius's plan was 
to buy up the intervening houses, with their gardens, 
and as many on the other side, so as to provide resi- 
dences for seven masters, and also seven class-rooms. 
The whole was to be surrounded by a continuous wall, 
so that a little Latin state (Latina civitatuld) might be 

1 Printed at Nuremberg in 1658. 

% Deliberatio deLatio a Tiberi ad Brodrocum transferendo. 



HIS PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 57 

planted, with its own open areas and gardens— all en- 
closed from the outer world. This was to be a little 
republic, having its own customs, laws, judges, and* 
senate, and its own chapel and services. The masters 
were to preside over a large family like fathers, and 
there in the course of seven years, beginning 
at the age of twelve, boys were to be instructed in 'all 
things that perfect human nature,' and trained to be 
pious Christians, and wise and cultivated men. 

The three-class school which formed the lower divi- 
* sion of this Pansophic seminary was organized with a 
view to instruction in Latin along with Real things. 
The higher classes, up to the seventh, are described 
elsewhere. They do not seem ever to have been or- 
ganized. 

The Precepts of Manners, collected for the use of 
youth in 1653, are amusing, and at the same time af- 
ford evidence of the exaggerated conceptions which 
Comenius entertained of the possibilities of education. 
He believed, in truth, that he could manufacture a 
man. These also were written for the Patak school. 

The Schola Ludus, which is a kind of dramatic Janua 
Linguarum et Rerum, was likewise written and printed 
for the Patak school. An elaborate Latino-Latin 
Lexicon was also composed during the four years' 
residence at Patak. Comenius left it behind him in 
MSS., and it was afterwards printed at Amsterdam in 
1657- 

The Prince Sigismund, unfortunately, died prema- 
turely, and those in authority after his death resolved 
to limit the new institution to the three-class Latin, or 



58 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

philological school, and for the use of this school the 
Vestibuliim, Janua and Atrium were printed in L,atin- 
Hungarian. The Patak school was auspiciously opened 
under three carefully selected masters, and Comenius 
believed it to be nourishing in 1657, when, at Amster- 
dam, he was writing his dedicatory epistle prefixed to 
the Schola Ludus. It had, however, suffered from the 
plague of 1 65 5 , which temporarily broke it up . Havin g 
accomplished his work of organization and book- 
writing, Comenius left Hungary in 1654, pronouncing 
his valedictory address on June 2d of that year, in 
presence of a distinguished assembly. 1 

In that address he informs his audience that his. 
objects in school reform were — to give compendiums 
for learning theL,atin tongue, which would make the 
acquisition of it pleasant; to introduce a higher and 
better philosophy into school work, so as to fit youth 
for the investigation of the causes of things; and ta 
create a higher tone of morals and manners. To cany 
out these objects, he had constructed, he tells them, a 
Vestibulum and a Janua of the Latin tongue for the 
first two classes, with their accompanying lexicons 
and grammars, and an Atrium for the third stage, with 
a more extended grammar, including idioms, phrases, 
and elegancies, and a Latino-latin lexicon. As to 
science, arts, philosophy, morals, and theology, he had 
so constructed the above-named books that they con- 
tained the foundations of all departments of knowl- 
edge; in brief, Pansophia in its elements. He thanks 

x Laborum Scholasticorum Patakini obitorum Coroniso, vide 
vol. iii. p. 1041. 



RETURN TO IvKSNA 59 

all for their co-operation, and impresses on them, in 
eloquent language, the duty of maintaining the school, 
and prosecuting the methods which he had taught them, 
which he elsewhere sums up in the words, Noscenda 
noscendo, facienda faciendo, or Autopsy, looking at 
things for oneself, and Autopraxy, doing or constant 
practice. 

" Vale Patakina schola! " he concludes. " Vale ec- 
clesia! Vale Patakum ipsum! Valete omnes amici, 
Comeniique vestri amicam apudvos retinete memoriam, 
amicis prosequimini votis, etc. . . . Imprimis valete 
vos dilecti collegae, atque si me Kliam vestrum fuisse 
credebatis, et ob meum a vobis discessum lugetis, ego 
vos ut meos Elisaeos iutueor et vobis de spiritu meo 
portionem duplam coelitus dari opto; ut publici boni 
amore et pro illo promovendo laborum tolerantia et ad 
innrmiores condescentia progressibus denique bonis ita 
me superetis quomodo miraculis patrandis BHam super- 
avit Klisaeus: ad scholam hanc vestram et alias tarn 
sancte sapienterque regendum quam sancte sapien- 
terque scholas Prophetarum rexit Elisaeus ! ' ' 

It must have been about 1652-53, while still in the 
midst of his Patak labors, that he lost his best friend 
and patron, Ludovic de Geer. A long letter of condo- 
lence addressed to the son, Laurence, then settled at 
Amsterdam as Swedish ambassador, concludes the third 
volume of the Works. In this he recalls the virtues 
and lauds the character of the father, who was, without 
doubt, a man of high public spirit, and of a generous 
and liberal nature. For eight years he had supported 
Comenius and his amanuenses, and was prepared, 



60 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

when the opportunity offered, to contribute largely to- 
wards the institution of a Pansophic College. 

From Patak Comenius went, in 1654, to his former 
home at I+esna. The war which almost immediately 
after broke out (1655) involved the whole of Poland, 
and caused, among other calamities, the destruction of 
Lesna (1656). 3 He was thus forced to seek for some 
safer asylum. 

In the overthrow of the town, Comenius lost all his 
property, including his library and manuscripts, which 
contained the results of the studies which he had un- 
dertaken with a view to the great Pansophic book 
which was the chief aim of his life. Among the MSS. 
was one which, he tells us, he considered the most pre- 
cious of his possessions ; it was his Silva or 'forest' (to 
use his own peculiar expression) of Pansophic materials, 
a treasury of definitions of all things, and of axioms, 
scientific and philosophic, which he had spent tweniy 
years in gathering together. He had not, even then, 
been prepared with a complete system, but he had in 
contemplation, and nearly ready, a much more com- 
plete treatise than any he had j^et issued. 

After the ruin of Iyesna, he was invited by Laurence 
de Geer, the son of his former patron, to join him in 
Amsterdam, there to take counsel as to his future. 
From the temporary refuge which he had found for his 
family he was driven by pestilence, and other friends 
joining De Geer in urging him to make Amsterdam 

1 The fate of Iyesna was said to have been partly due to a 
panegyric on Charles Gustavus, King of Sweden, which Come- 
nius indiscreetly published. 



LOSS OF MANUSCRIPTS 61 

his future home, he yielded, because, he himself says, 
'I have all my life long been accustomed to yield to 
what seemed to be the guidance of Providence.' 1 
Comenius was now sixty-three years of age. 
. To the loss of his Pansophic MSS. were now added 
fresh demands on his time of a strictly scholastic kind, 
and he had to return 'ad puerilia ilia utut mini toties 
nauseata Latinitatis studia.' An edition of his Schola 
Ludus, was demanded in Holland, and he found so 
many errors and defects in the version printed at Patak 
after his departure, that he had to devote a considerable 
time to amending and printing. Then, it was im- 
possible to escape from the supposed necessity of 
constructing another elementary book, a sequel to the 
Vestibulum— -to be entitled the Auctarium. He was 
also requested by the Senate of Amsterdam to try his 
method on two youths. His I,atinity also was attacked, 
and this caused him to write Pro Latinitate Ja?iuae 
Come?iia?iae Apologia. These labors, but especially 
this last treatise, revived an interest in his method in 
the minds of many public men, and he was asked 
to put his educational views in the form of an epitome, 
so that busy men might read them. This g#ave rise to 
his Synopsis Novissimae Methodi, which, however, he did 
not think it worth his while to republish in his Works, 
probably because it is substantially repeated in other 

treatises. 

The publication of his complete didactic works, to 
which he now addressed himself at the instance of De 
Geer, and under the patronage of the highest authori- 

* The last Dedicatory Epistle. 



62 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

ties in Amsterdam, led him to take a critical survey of 
all he had written, that he might confirm, retract, or 
modify the opinions which he had from time to time 
given forth. This treatise of retrospect and revision 
he entitled Ventilabrum Sapie?itiae sive sapienter sua 
retractandi Ars — 'The Banner of Wisdom, or the Art 
of retracting one's own opinions.' This farmer was 
to winnow away the chaff and leave the solid grain. 
He quotes Philo in support of this self-criticism ; 
i Scientiae finis non contingit hominibus. Nemo enim 
absolutus est in ulla scientia. Revera perfectiones et 
vestigia tmius sunt (nempe Dei) . ' He also quotes Aris- 
totle as saying: 'It behooves a philosopher to forswear 
even his own dogmas,' and a Roman Pontiff as re- 
marking, 'Wretched is that man who is the slave of his 
own dogmas.' 

In the Didactica Magna, which contains the system- 
atic development of his principles and methods, he 
finds that he has nothing to retract, but confines him- 
self to a defence of the Syncretic Method, which is 
there followed. Comenius recognizes three methods of 
ascertaining and 1 expounding truth, — the Analytic and 
the Synthetic (which words he uses in our modern 
acceptation), and the Syncretic. By this last he means 
arguing by a method of parallels in nature, — the 
method of Analogy. He holds that the true character 
and process of anything in the created world furnishes 
a line of explanation for other things, which is of the 
most convincing kind. The stricter view of Analogy 
which is now accepted was not known to Comenius, 
although he must have had before him the dictum of 



PANSOPHIC VS. DIDACTIC WORK 63 

the schoolmen : ' Similia illustrant quidem, non autem 
probant. ' 

When, in the course of his retrospect, he re-peruses 
his Praeludium Pansophicum , a sense of wasted years 
oppresses him, and he is again afflicted with grief, 
because he had, at the urgent entreaty of friends, too 
readily deserted this the main line of his studies, sacri- 
ficing the great ambition of his life to occupy himself 
exclusively with matters didactic. ' How badly have 
I imitated,' he exclaims, 'that merchant seeking for 
good pearls, who, when he had found a pearl of great 
price, went away and sold all he had, and bought it ! 
O wretched sons of light, who know not to imitate the 
wisdom of the children of the world ! Would that I, 
having once struck the Pansophic vein, had followed 
it up, neglecting all else ! But so it happens when we 
lend an ear to the solicitations clamoring outside us 
rather than to the light shining within us.' 

The corrections he has to make in his various di- 
dactic writings are certainly very unimportant. They 
all point in the direction of greater simplification, and 
for this he looks to the labors of his successors rather 
than to any revision of his own. 

About the year 1657 Comenius wrote and published 
(in the fourth volume of his Works) four treatises, 
which however constitute one. He desired to present 
his principles in a brief and condensed, yet systematic 
way, so that they might be accessible to men occupied 
with public affairs. The first of these treatises is en- 
titled E Scholasticis Labyrinthls Exitus in Planum, sive 
Machina Didactica mechanice constructed ; ad non hae- 



64 BIOGRAPHY OF C0M3NIUS 

rendun amplius (in Docendi et Discendi muniis) sea 
progrediendum, 'An Issue out of School-labyrinths 
into the Open, or a Didactic Machine mechanically 
constructed with a view to no longer sticking fast in 
the work of Teaching and Learning, but of advancing 
in them.' Schools, he tells us, are to be compared to 
labyrinths, infinitely distracting the minds of youth ; 
the thread which is to guide us through the labyrinths 
is a true and simple method. The sciences and arts 
and tongues are to be taught, but the precise quantity 
and goal of teaching are not accurately laid down. The 
thread of Ariadne — Method, is all important, because 
it leads to distinct issues by a proper way. Augustine 
says, Praestet pauca, scire quam infinita opinari, Pliny 
says, Saiius sit minus severe et melius arare; and again 
Seneca, Melius est scire pauca et Us recteutiquam scire multa 
quorum ignores usum. 'Our method,' says Comenius, 
offers few things, but these necessary to life here and 
hereafter; few things, but these well consolidated by 
continued exercises; few things, but these having a. 
direct utility.' 

As he grew older, and looked back on his past work, 
he became more and more convinced that he was right 
in his aims and methods. He was now sixty-five years 
of age. His views assumed to his mind a definite and 
clear shape, and became almost axiomatic. He admits 
certain errors in the details of working out his views; 
for example, that his text-books are too condensed,, 
and attempt too much, and that it would be hardly 
possible to accomplish in three years (the Three- CI ass 
philological, or Latin school) all that he once thought 



HIS IDEAL LATIN SCHOOL G5 

might be accomplished within that period; but these 
faults he considers to be faults of detail, and due to his 
own culpable neglect of the principles he had himself 
laid down. Admitting so much, he yet regards his 
method as so absolute in its character that it may be 
likened to a machine— a clock, or a ship, or a mill. 
Set it going, and keep it going, and you will find the 
result certain. It is really of the nature of a mechan- 
ical construction, mechanically constructed. He is 
never weary of advocating his system. He sums up 
his principles, and then, with all the ardor of his 
youth, he afresh proceeds to consider the means by 
which his great end is to be attained. 

The Latin school is to be a college in which noth- 
ing but Latin is to be spoken. Longuvi et difficile iter 
per praecepta, usu et consuetudine iter breve etefficax. He 
calls the brief treatise in which he advocates the insti- . 
tution of such a college Latinum Redivivum, and urges 
the authorities of Amsterdam to institute one. 

With such a college he sees his way so to carry out 
his methods as to justify him in recurring to one of his 
old ideas, and comparing his method to a printing- 
press, which makes the impression of the type on the 
paper without fail. So will the impression on minds 
by his method be equally certain. Hence the name of 
his next paper, Typographeum Vivum, or the Living 
Printing Press. He here compares his method with 
clocks, ships, agriculture {Ingenmm errim vivus ager 
est; Disciplinae aratro sementi praeparandus , Doctrin- 
arum seminibus obserendus, Exercitiorum pluvia, sole, 
vento animandus), with the pictorial and sculptural 



66 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

arts, and with architecture, but prefers to dwell on its 
likeness to the typographic art, not only as to the mode 
of procedure, but also the result; for whereas in the 
one case you have books, in the other, every capable 
pupil properly trained, will be a walking library- — 
oba?nbulans Bibliotheca. 

But the final aim of all this training is moral and 
religious. Comenius never lost sight of this. As the 
restoration of man to the Paradise which he forfeited 
and to the image of God which he lost, is the aim of 
the Providence of God in Christ, so the aim of the 
school is a restoration — a bringing of its work and 
methods into a harmony with moral and religious aims, 
and subordinating the school to the Church as a spir- 
itual society. Hence the title of the next treatise, 
Paradisus Juveyituti Christianae reducendus. In this 
treatise he mixes up the spiritual aim of the school 
with that of a Paradise in the sense of a place that 
may be made a happy one for boys, and indulges also 
in many forced analogies between the school and the 
first Paradise. 

Finally, in his Traditio Lampadis he solemnly hands 
over the didactic work of his life to be carried on by 
others, and commends his labors to God, who had 
so favored him as to make him the instrument of 
sowing the seed of a better time for schools, and to 
whose blessing he looks for a rich harvest in the future. 

Comenius was now sixty -six years of age, and had 
just revised and completed the issue of his collected 
Didactic works, extending to four folio volumes. He 
had now said his last word. We can well believe the 



HIS OWN REVIEW OF HIS LIFE 67 

simple-hearted and single-minded old Bishop, when he 
tells us that he had been led by no personal ambition 
to publish his works, and that he was very far from 
desiring to derogate from the claims of those writers 
who preceded him, and to whom he acknowledges his 
obligations. Nor had his motive been the desire of 
wealth, for he had sought nothing and gained nothing. 
He had labored and written, he sa} T s. influenced by 
the love of God, and stimulated by the exhortations 
of learned men, solely in the hope of improving the 
education of youth, and preparing a better future for 
humanity. 

It is not to be supposed that Comenius's relations 
to his original patron, Iyudovic de Geer, were always 
pleasant; such relations seldom are. De Geer com- 
plained of unnecessary delay, and Comenius had many 
personal vexations to contend with arising out of his 
pecuniary dependence. We learn also, from the last 
Dedicatory Epistle written by Comenius, and addressed 
to some of the leading men in Amsterdam, that he 
had not, even in his old age, escaped the general fate 
of reformers. While his views on Education had been 
ardently supported by some of the best men in Europe, 
that obstructive of all education known as the ' prac- 
tical teacher,' had been at work. Detraction was 
bus} 7 , and he was accused by the teachers ot Amster- 
dam of ' attacking schools.' To all this his reply was 
brief. ' I can affirm ,' he writes , 'from the bottom of 
my heart, that these fort) 7 years my aim has been 
simple and unpretending, indifferent whether I teach 
or be taught, admonish or be admonished, willing to 



68 BIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 

act the part of a teacher of teachers, if in anything it 
may be permitted me to do so, and a disciple of dis- 
ciples where progress may be possible. They say that 
I write against schools: nay, it is for schools that I 
speak, and have spoken. I presume our common ends 
are the same; it is as to methods and ways we differ.' 
Malignity even touched the character and motives of 
the old Bishop. ' I have not, by the grace of God, ' he 
says, ' so spent my life that now in my old age I must 
avoid the light; nor are the things I have done till now 
of so little account that I am to keep silence when I am 
asked to speak. As to the allegation that I have pre- 
ferred private to public schools, this is incorrect ; my 
writings show this. I have desired to give trouble to 
none, but rather to lessen trouble. Why then should 
any delight to molest me ? I^et me live in tranquillity 
as long as God wills me to be here ! With Thomas a 
Kempis I can from my heart and the bitter lessons of 
experience say, "I have tried all things, nor anywhere 
have I found peace, save in a little corner and a little 
book' ' (angidido et libellulld) . ' x 

Of Comenius's domestic life and history not very 
much is known. He married, as his second wife, the 
daughter of Joh. Cyrillus, a priest of the Brotherhood 
and a Senior, apparently about the year 1629. She 
died in 1648, or the beginning of 1649, after having 
borne five children — a son, Daniel by name, and four 

1 The attack on Cornenius by Nicolas Arnoldus, in his Dis- 
cursus Theologicus contra Comenium, is personal and spiteful. 
Eayle's treatment of Comenius shows a complete misapprehen- 
sion of his character. 



HIS DOMESTIC LIFE 69 

daughters. The eldest daughter, Dorothea, Seems to 
have married Johann Mohtor, a man of good Slovack 
family, who had been under Comenius's educational 
supervision at Lissa. The second daughter, Elizabeth, 
married Figulus, one of her father's collaborateurs, and 
a Moravian pastor. 

Comenius continued to reside in Amsterdam, after 
the publication of his collected Didactic works (com- 
pleted in the end of 1657), maintaining himself and 
his family by teaching, and partly, it would seem, sup- 
ported by the private liberality of the admirers of his 
life and labors — especially the De Geer family, at 
whose expense his books were printed. He dedicated 
his works to the city of Amsterdam, in gratitude for 
the hospitality its people had shown to him. He lived 
for nearly thirteen years after this, dying on the 15th 
of November, 1671, in his eightieth year, and was 
buried at Naarden. During these concluding years he 
does not seem to have added to his Didactic writings, 
but he printed several treatises of a religious character 
intended to further the promotion of the unity of 
Protestant Christendom, and continued to maintain 
by correspondence his connection with the Moravian 
Brethren, and the superintendence of their affairs. 
His last publication was a confession, entitled Oiie 
Thing Needful, 1 in which the piety of his heart and 

1 Unum necessarium in vita et morte et post mortem quod 
nonnecessari mundi fatigatus et ad unum necessarium sese re- 
cipiens senesj. A. Comenius anno aetatis suae 77, niundo ex- 
pendendum offert. Terent. Ad omnia aetate sapimus rede. 
Edit. Amsteldami 1668. Afterwards republished in Leipzig in 
1734. 



70 BIOORAPHY OF COM3NIUS 

the simplicity of his faith are alike conspicuous. In 
this he thanks God that he had been a man of aspira 
tions. 

Bven in the declining years of his laborious life he 
never for a moment lost sight of his great Pansophic 
work, which was to place before the world of science 
and letters the sum of human knowledge in all depart- 
ments. He set himself diligently to replace the mate- 
rials and MSS. which were destroyed at the sacking of 
Lesna, and left a large number of papers behind him, 
enjoining his son Daniel and his old friend and fellow- 
worker Nigrinus to prepare them for publication. 
The son seems to have troubled himself very little 
about the matter, but Nigrinus worked for eight or 
nine years at the revision and preparation of the MS., 
being supported during the task by the liberality of 
Gerard de Geer. But it does not appear that any 
Pansophic publication ever saw the light. 

'Comenius,' says Von Raumer truly, 'is a grand and 
venerable figure of sorrow. Wandering, persecuted, 
and homeless during the terrible and desolating Thirty 
Years' War, he yet never despaired ; but with enduring 
truth, and strong in faith, he labored unweariedly to 
prepare youth by a better education for a better future. 
Suspended from the ministry, as he himself tells us, 
and an exile, he had become an Apostle adge?ites minu- 
tulas — Christianam juventutem ; and certainly he la- 
bored for them with a zeal and love worthy of the 
chief of the Apostles . ' 

A translation of the Bible into Turkish also occupied mudi 
of his thoughts and time. 



PART I. 
THE GREAT DIDACTIC. 



First Section. 

PANSOPHY AND THE AIM OF EDUCATION. 

There can be no doubt that it was chiefly the spec- 
ulations of Lord Verulam that fired the imagination of 
Comenius, and led him to conceive hopes of reducing 
all existing learning to a systematic form, and provid- 
ing for all the more ambitious youth of Europe, in a 
great Pansophic College, opportunities for the univer- 
sal study of the whole body of science. To this uni- 
versal and systematized learning he gave the name 
of Pansophia or Encyclopaedia. He was filled with 
high hopes of the benefits which would arise from a 
revision and arrangement of human knowledge — hopes 
which he shared with many men of his time, and which 
would be rash for us to say were without sufficient 
foundation. 

The title of one of his treatises is, 'A Prelude of 
Pansophy, in which the necessity of universal wisdom, 
its possibility and its practicability (if it be approached 
according to a certain method) is briefly and clearly 
demonstrated.' He draws a picture of the confusion 
of existing knowledge, and the inadequacy of the 

(73) 



74 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

treatment of its various departments. He attributes, 
this to the ignorance of those in one place of what had 
been done elsewhere, and to the too great specializa- 
tion of inquirers. The writer on jurisprudence was ig- 
norant, it might be, of philosophy and physics; the 
writer on physics was ignorant of metaphysics; the 
writer on metaphysics and ethics ignored physics; and 
so forth. Hence inadequacy of treatment; hence, too, 
the fragmentary presentation of all knowledge. To 
cure this it was necessary that there should be an au- 
thorized and systematized view of all learning, ar- 
ranged in a philosophic order. Men, who, in the 
higher departments of education, had been disciplined 
in this encyclopaedia, would have an universal culture 
that would enable them to prosecute special branches 
with greater firmness and accuracy. He called on 
learned men, to enable him by their contributions to 
construct such a book, or series of books. As to 
method; while the spirit of the Baconian induction 
was in him, in so far as he based knowledge on obser- 
vation, and on advancing from particulars to generals, 
he had not grasped induction in its true significance. 
For, as Bacon himself points out, the senses by them- 
selves are not to be trusted, and the processes of a true 
investigation are to supplement, correct and verify 
them. 

As all knowledge was to lead to God, and to God as 
revealed through Christ, Comenius spoke of his ency- 
clopaedism as a Christian Pansophy, and gave the 
< special titles of the seven parts of the temple oi 
Christian Pansophy. ' The first part was to show the 



HIS IDEAI, PANSOPHIC UNIVERSITY 75 

necessity and possibility of the temple, and to give its 
external structure or outline — to be called the Templi 
Sapientiae Propylaeum. The second part was to give 
the first approach to a knowledge of all knowable 
things — a general apparatus of wisdom — in which 
the highest genera and fundamental principles and 
axioms were to be exhibited, from which, as the primal 
sources of truth, the streams of all sciences flow and 
diverge,— to be called the Porta. The third part 
(the primum Atrium) was to exhaust visible nature. 
The fourth (the Atrium medium) was to treat of man 
and reason; the fifth part {Atrium internum), of man's 
essential nature — free-will and responsibility, and the 
repair of man's will in Christ as the beginning of the 
spiritual life. The sixth part {Sanctum sanctorum) 
was to be theological, and here man was to be admitted 
to the study and worship of God and his revelation, 
that thereby he might be led to embrace God as the 
center of eternal life. The seventh part {Fons aquarum 
viventium) was to expound the use of true wisdom and 
its dissemination, so that the whole world might be 
filled with a knowledge of God. 

This is a sketch of a Pansophic University. The 
same ideas worked out as applicable to a Secondary or 
Latin School will be found in the sequel under the 
designation, ' The Inner Organization of a Pansophic 
School.' 

Comenius was a thoroughgoing realist in education, 
but he combined with this a fervent evangelicalism ; 
indeed, his whole purpose was to lead youth to God 



76 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

through things — to God as the source of all, and as 
the crown of knowledge and the end of life. 

I have chosen to introduce the educational reader to 
Comenius in connection with his Pansophic schemes, 
because they are the key to his intellectual life and his 
educational aims. For it will be seen in the sequel 
that the idea of a Christian Pansophy never deserts 
him, and that, from his 'mother-school' upwards, his 
purpose is to give to children and boys the elements ol 
universal knowledge adapted to the various stages of 
school life. It is as the representative of enclyclo- 
paadism in education (in his case a Christian enclyclo- 
psedism), and as the first exhaustive writer on general 
method, that Comenius claims our attention. As a 
type of the realistic and enclyclopaedic school of Edu- 
cationalists, he will probably never be superseded. 

I shall now give an account of those works of 
Comenius in which he endeavored to give effect to his 
educational views. The 'Great Didactic' {Magna 
Didactica 1 ) first arrests our attention, because it was 

1 The word is of singular number, and Ars is understood. 
The full title of the book is as follows : — 

DIDACTICA MAGNA : 

UNIVERSAL OMNES OMNIA 
DOCENDI ARTIEICIUM EXHIBENS : 

Sive certus et exquisitus modus, per omnes alicujus Christiani 
Regni communitates; Oppida et Vicos, tales erigendi Scholas, 
ut Omnis utriusque sexus Juventus, nemine usquam neglecto, 
Iviteris informari, Moribus expoliri, Pietate impui, leaque 
ratione intra pubertatis annos ad omnia quae praesentis et 
futurae vitae sunt instrui possit, 

Compendiose, Jucunde, Solide : 
Ubi omnium quae suadentur, 



HIS " GRKAT DIDACTIC' ' 77 

put forth as a systematic treatment of the whole ques- 
tion of Education. Here our object will be to make 
Comenius speak as much as possible for himself. 

In his prefatory remarks to the Great Didactic, 
Comenius tells us that the Didactic Art has to be 
studied in the interests of Parents, Teachers, Pupils, 
the Commonwealth, the Church, and Heaven. 

'Quidnam,' says Diogenes, the Pythagorean, 'est 
fundamentum totius reipublicae ? Adolescentium edu- 
catio. Hand enim unquam vites utilem fructum pro- 
tulerintquae non bene sunt excultae. ' ' It is our boun- 
den duty, he adds, 'to consider the means whereby 
the whole body of Christian youth may be stirred to 
vigor of mind and the love of Heavenly things.' 

General Statement of Aim. 

I. Man is the las£, the most complete, and the most 
excellent of living creatures. 

II. The final end of man lies beyond this life. This 
life is threefold, viz., Vegetative, Animal, and Intel- 
lectual or Spiritual. The first nowhere manifests itself 
outside the body; the second stretches forth to objects 
through the operations of the senses; the third is able 
to exist separately as well as in the body, as in the 
case of Angels. 'Jam quia evidens est, supremum 

Fundamenta, ex ipsissima rerum natura eruuntur : 

Veritas, artium Mechanicarum, parallelis exemplis demon- 

stratur ; 

Series, per Annos, Menses, Dies, Horas, disponitur ; 

Via denique in effectum haec feliciter 

deducendi, facilis et certa ostenditur. 



78 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

hunc vitae gradum a prioribus valide in nobis obum- 
brari et praepediri, necessario sequitur futurum esse ubi 
in a/cjuyv deducatur.' 

III. This life is only a preparation for an eternal 
life. The visible world is a seed-plot, a boarding- 
house and training-school for man. 

'As certainly as the period spent in the mother's 
womb is a preparation for the life in the body, so 
certainly is the dwelling in the body a preparation for- 
that life which will take up the present and endure for 
ever. Happy he who has brought forth from his 
mother's womb well formed limbs: happier a thousand 
times he who carries hence a well-formed soul.' 

IV. There are three steps of preparation for Eternity. 
'Se, et secum omnia, Nosse; Regere; et ad Deum 
Dirigere.' 

It is accordingly required of man that — 
(i.) He should know all things. 
(2.) He should have power over all things and 

over himself. 
(3.) He should refer himself and all things to God, 
the Source of All. 
These requirements are summed up in the words 
Eruditio, Virtus sen Mores Honestas, Religio seu Pietas , 
— Knowledge, Virtue, and Piety. All else is merely 
accidental and extrinsic. 

V. The seeds of these three (Knowledge, Virtue, 
and Religion) are in us by Nature, i. e. our first original 
and fundamental nature, to which we are to be recalled 
by God in Christ. 

It is as certain that Man has been born fit for the 



GENERAL AIM OF EDUCATION 79 

understanding of things, the harmony of morals, and 
the love of God, as that there are roots to a tree. 

Knowledge, or Eruditio. — God has placed the 
Toots of eternal wisdom in man. He is fit to acquire 
all knowledge because he is the image of God. God 
is omniscient, and the mind of man is like a polished 
.globular mirror hung up in a chamber, which receives 
the forms (species) of all things. The body, the voice, 
the vision of man are limited, but the mind is unlimited 
in its sweep — it is capable of all things. 

Again, Man is a microcosm, in which are enfolded 
the seeds of all things, as well as of all knowledge. 
To him, as inhabiting a natural body, are attached 
emissaries and scouts, viz., his senses of seeing, hear- 
ing, smelling, taste, and touch. 

There is implanted in man a desire to know, and not 
merely a tolerance of labor, but an appetite for labor. 
The senses, e. g., seek about for objects. 

The mind may be compared to the earth, for does it 
riot receive all kinds of seeds ? or, as Aristotle said, to 
a tabula rasa, on which nothing is inscribed, but on 
which everything may be inscribed ; or the brain may 
be compared to wax, on which every form may be im- 
printed ; for which the wisdom of God is to be 
admired, who has made it, though small, capable of 
receiving innumerable impressions. 

Most fitly, perhaps, is the mind to be compared to 
a mirror, which reflects accurately all that is placed 
before it. 

Virtue, or Mores Honesti. — The seeds of moral life 



80 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

are connate with man. He is adapted for a harmoma, 
morum. In the motions of the soul the principal 
wheel is the will. The weights which drive this wheel 
are the affections and appetites, but the reason is as a 
movable bolt which opens and shuts the entrance of 
these, and suspends or directs. 

Piety, or Religio. — So also are the roots of religion 
in man, for is he not the image of God? The soul of 
man longs after its likeness. God is the end of its 
striving, and this is the summum bonum — -a longing 
not wholly extinguished by the Fall. We are not to 
forget our restoration in the new Adam. Everything 
returns willingly to its own true nature, and it is 
easier for man, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be 
wise, good, and holy, than it is for his adventitious 
depravity to stop his progress. 

Nature gives the seeds of knowledge, morality, and 
religion, but it does not give knowledge, virtue, and 
religion themselves. These have to be striven for. 
Hence man is truly called animal disciplinabile , since 
he cannot truly become a man except through disci- 
pline. Men, then, has to be educated to become a 
man. Even to use his limbs aright, he has to be edu- 
cated. The mind, if weak or stupid, we all admit, 
needs discipline ; but this is true even of the capable 
understanding ; for as rich soil, if not rightly tilled, 
grows weeds and thistles in more than usual abundance > 
so it is with the man of natural talent. 

Education is to be carried out while the mind is yet 
tender and the brain soft. And in order that the 
human being may be educated to full humanity, God 



GENERAL AIM OF EDUCATION 81 

has given him certain years of childhood during which 
he is not fit for active life ; and that only is firm 
and stable which has been imbibed during the earliest 
years. 

The care of children belongs properly to their par- 
ents, but they need the help of these specially set 
apart for education — precep tores, ludimagistri, profes- 
sores — and there is, consequently, a need for schools 
and colleges. Schools should be instituted in every 
part of the empire, and the whole of the youth of both 
sexes should be sent to these. Schools have been truly 
called humanitatis qfficinae (workshops or manufacto- 
ries of Humanity) , where man may be trained to be — 
i. A rational creature; 2. A creature lord of other 
creatures and of himself; 3 . A creature which shall be 
the joy of his Creator. 

That only I call a school, Comenius says, which is 
truly officina hominum, where minds are instructed in 
wisdom to penetrate all things, where souls and their 
affections are guided to the universal harmony of the 
virtues, and hearts are allured to divine love, — 'ubi 
omnes omnia omnino doceantur.' 

Luther, in 1525, in his exhortation to the States of 
the Empire to erect schools, desires, inter alia, these 
two things — '(1) That in all cities, towns and villages 
schools be instituted to teach all the youth of both 
sexes; so that those engaged in agriculture and trades 
might receive two hours' daily instruction in letters, 
morals, and religion. (2) That they should be in- 
structed according to some easier method, which would 
not only not deter from study, but allure to it, so that 



82 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

they should derive no less pleasure from their studies 
than from their games.' But even now, 'ubi univer- 
sales illae scholae? ubi blanda ilia methodus?' Even 
those that exist for the wealthier classes are a terror to 
boys and torture-chambers of minds. As to moral 
training and manners, even the Universities are bad. 
And why all this? Because 'de bene vivendo in Scho- 
lis quaestio nulla mo vetur.' They have sought only 
knowledge. 

And how have they sought this? In such a way 
that they spend five, ten, or even more years over what 
could be done in one year. What is capable of being 
instilled and poured into the mind in the gentlest way, 
is violently stuffed in and stamped in. What might be 
placed perspicuously and clearly before the eyes is pre- 
sented in an obscure, perplexed, and intricate way. 

The mind is nowhere nourished with the true kernel 
of things, but with the mere husk of words. 

As to the study of the Latin tongue — good Heavens! 
how laborious, how intricate, how prolix! Mere scul- 
lions, cooks, and soldiers will learn one, two, or three 
foreign tongues more quickly than the pupils of our 
schools will learn Latin only; and these know little of 
it, and are dependent on their lexicons. This must 
arise from a bad method. Well may the distinguished 
Lubinus say, that, when he thinks of the immense 
labor, tedium, and loss in the teaching of Latin, he is 
disposed to think that the method must have been in- 
vented by some evil genius — an enemy of the human 
race. But why multiply testimony? I myself am an 
unhappy instance of wasted boyhood and youth — 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 83 

years misspent, the memory of which I recall with 
tears and sighs. But the past is irrevocable. Let us 
do better for our posterity. 

So much for the general Aim of Education, accord- 
ing to Comenius. He now proceeds to treat of method, 
taking the operations of external nature as his guide. 
The parallelism is throughout forced, and often fanci- 
ful. 

Second Section. 

THE METHOD OE EDUCATION. 

Reformation is possible. I undertake an organiza- 
tion of schools, whereby — 

(i.) All the youth may be instructed save those to 
whom God has denied intelligence. 

(2.) And instructed in all those things which make 
a man wise, good, and holy. 

(3.) And that, as a preparation for life, in such a 
time as will set him free before he is adult. 

(4.) And that, without blows, severity, or com- 
pulsion, but most lightly, gently, and, so to speak, 
spontaneously. 

(5.) And that, in such a way that they shall be 
trained, not to specious and superficial, but to true 
and solid learning, and to the use of their own faculties, 
— not to dependence on others or on mere memory. 
With like solidity will they be instructed in morality 
and religion. 

(6.) And that, so that the course of instruction 
shall not be laborious, but very easy; four hours a day 
being sufficient. 



84 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Order it is that is the soul of the world; order sus- 
tains nature in all its parts. 

Order too is the eye of the school, and we must take 
from nature the order of the school. 

Our business is to discover from the indications of 
nature the principles which underlie the answers to the 
following queries: — 

(i.) How life may be so prolonged as to enable us 
to learn all things. 

(2.) How arts may be shortened with a view to 
rapid learning. 

(3.) How we may seize the right occasions for 
learning so as to learn Surely. 

(4.) How we may unlock the mind so as to learn 
Easily. 

(5.) How we may sharpen the understanding so as 
to learn Solidly. 

Omitting other points, let us consider the three 
problems contained in the words surely, easily, solidly 
— certo , facile , solide. 

I. Certo, or Surely. 

How are we to teach and learn surely, i. e. so as to be 
sure of our result f 

This is to be done by finding the modus operandi 
of Nature, and accommodating ourselves to that, as 
follows : — x 

First Principle : — Nature attends to a fit time. 

Birds do not begin the work of multiplying their 

1 It will be noticed that successive principles yield the same 
or similar rules. Hence considerable repetition. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 85 

species in winter. So with other natural operations, 
such as the growth in a garden ; the season determines 
all. Right in the teeth of this, schools do not choose 
a fit time for exercising the minds of pupils ; and they 
do not so accurately arrange the exercises as to insure 
that all things advance infallibly through their own 
successive steps. 

Just as Nature chooses spring as the time of prepa- 
ration for future products, so the right time is boy- 
hood — the spring of life. The right time of the day 
is the morning hours, which is the spring of the day ; 
and as to arrangement of studies, it may be said, gen- 
erally, that nothing should be taught except when it 
can be comprehended. 

Second Principle. — Nature prepares material for 
itself before it gives it form 

In the school-books, matter does not precede form. 
In schools also they teach words before things — the 
mere clothing or husk of words before the reality itself. 
Then in the study of a language they teach form be- 
fore things, because they teach rules before words and 
sentences. They give rules and then examples, where- 
as the light ought to precede that which it is intended 
to light up. 

In all instruction it is necessary that, having got 
ready the necessary books and materials : (i.) The 
understanding be instructed before speech is demand- 
ed : (2.) That no language should be learned from a 
Grammar, but from suitable authors, that real studies 
should precede organic (formal) , and that examples 
should come before rules. 



86 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Third Principle. — Nature takes a fit subject for its 
operation, or at least takes care that it be made fit. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) Let him who goes to school remain steadily 
there. 

(2.) Whatever study is taken up for treatment, let 
the minds of the pupils be predisposed towards it (and 
prepared for it) , 

(3.) Let all obstacles be removed out of the path 
of the pupils. 

Fourth Principle. — Nature does not confuse itself 
in its works, but advances distinctly to one thing after 
another. 

Wherefore let pupils be occupied with only one 
study at a time ; that is to say, teach only one thing 
at a time. 

Fifth Principle. — Nature begins all its operations 
from within outwards, e. g. a tree grows from within, 
etc. 

Teachers err herein, that instead of diligently ex- 
plaining and articulating everything, they would acquit 
themselves of their task of instructing youth, by speak- 
ing, dictating, and exercising memory. 

Wherefore — 

(1 .) Let the understanding of things be first formed, 
then the memory exercised on what is understood, and 
only in the third place, speech and hand (i. e. writing). 

(2.) The teacher should attend to every way of 
openingtheintellegence, and must apply them fitly. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 87 

Sixth Principle — Nature begins all its formation 
from ge?ierals , and thence proceeds to specialize — e. g., it 
warms and nourishes the whole mass of the egg, and 
does not form first the head, then the wings, then the 
feet, but, having warmed the whole, it sends its crea- 
tive force into the special parts, and there specializes. 
So, a painter in painting a portrait does not draw first 
the nose, then the ears, etc., but outlines the whole 
man on the canvas roughly with chalk, and then pro- 
ceeds to fill in . So with instruction , the outline should 
first be given. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) From the very beginning of their instruction, 
the (principles or) essential groundwork of all learning 
should be given. 

(2.) Every language, science, or art should first be 
learned in its simplest rudiments. Thus the idea of 
the whole, as a whole, will be grasped; then, more 
fully, rules and examples should be given; thereafter, 
peculiarities and anomalies; and finally, if necessary, 
commentaries, etc. 

Seventh Principle. — Nature does not proceed per 
saltum, but step by step. The hatching goes on by in- 
sensible degrees. So, a man building a house does not 
begin from the top but from the foundation, and step 
by step he rears his structure. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) The whole sphere of studies should be dis- 
tributed carefully among the successive classes of the 
school in such a manner that the earlier study always 



88 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

prepares the way for what is to follow, and, as it were, 
lights the path to it. 

(2.) The time at the teacher's disposal should he 
carefully distributed, so that its own peculiar task may 
await every year, month, day, hour. 

(3.) This distribution of the time should be most 
closely attended to, so that nothing may be passed 
over, and nothing put in its wrong order. 

Eighth Principle. — Nature, when it once begins, 
does 710 1 stop till it has completed its task. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) He who is handed over to the school should be 
retained there until he is ready to come forth an in- 
structed, moral, and religious man. 

(2 .) The school should be in an undisturbed locality. 1 

(3.) What has been laid down to be done should be 
strictly carried on on the lines laid down, and no gap 
permitted. 

(4.) No one should be allowed to absent himself on 
any pretext. 

Ninth Principle. — Nature carefully avoids whatever 
is contrary to its operations or hurtful. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) Permit a scholar the use of no books save those 
which have to do with his own class. 

(2.) The books should be so constructed that they 
may with truth be called channels of Wisdom, Morality, 
and Piety. 

1 This belongs rather to the Third Principle. 



HIS MKTHOD OF EDUCATION 89 

(3.) Dissolute associates in or out of school are not 
to be. tolerated. 

II. Facile, or Easily. 

We have exhibited the principles in accordance with 
which the work can be done with certainty. Now we 
proceed to show that it can also be done easily and 
pleasantly. This will be the case if we attend to the 
following ten principles (many of which repeat what 
has been already laid down). 

I. Let the education begin early, before the mind 
is corrupted. 

II. Let it be done with due preparation of the 
mind. 

III. Let it proceed from the more general to the 
special. 

IV. And from the easy to the more difficult. 

V. Let no one be weighted with too much to 
learn. 

VI. Let progress be slow everywhere. 
VII. Let the intellect be forced to nothing save 
what it spontaneously desires in accordance with its 
age and with right method. 

VIII. Let everything be communicated through the 
senses. 

IX. And turned to present use. 
X. Let all things be taught according to one and 
the same method. 

Let us follow the steps of Nature as illustrative of 
the above principles. 

First Principle. — Nature begins from pure eleme?its. 



90 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

The egg which is to be hatched is pure. The tender 
minds we seek to train should be free from distractions, 
and uncorrupted. 
Wherefore — 

(i.) Let the education of the young begin early. 

(2.) Let there be only one preceptor in each subject 
for each pupil (i. e. do not send the child from one 
master to another in the same subject.) 

(3.) Before all, let the morals be reduced to harmony 
under the influence of the preceptor. 

Second Principle. — Nature predisposes matter so 
that it shall seek form. 

The bird hatched desires to walk and to peck, and. 
finally desires to fly. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) The desire of knowing and learning is to be 
stirred up in boys in every way kdv r/i <PiXo/xaB^i e6y 
itohvjuaQrjS (Isoc.) 

(2.) Let the method of teaching lessen the labor of 
learning, so that nothing be a stumbling-block to the 
pupil, and deter from perseverance in stud}^. 

This ardor to acquire is to be excited by parents,, 
who should evince their respect for school masters and 
learning; by teachers, who should be kind, paternal,, 
and ready to commend; by schools, which should be 
pleasant rooms, well lighted, clean, and adorned with, 
pictures, etc.; by the things which the pupils study,, 
which should be so presented as to attract; by the 
method, which should be the natural method; and by 
magistrates, who should be present at examinations, 
and distribute rewards. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 91 

Third Principle.— Nature draws out all things 
from beginnings ', which in their bulk are small, in their 
virtue strong. 

Note in connection with this — (i.) That every art 
be summed up in rules, very short, but very exact. 
(2.) That every rule be conceived in words as brief as 
they are lucid. (3.) That numerous examples be given 
with each rule, so that the applications of the rule, 
however various, may be clear. 

Fourth Principle.— Nature proceeds from the ?nore 
easy to the more difficult. 

We find Latin rules taught in Latin — the unknown 
by the equally unknown, and many other faults which 
will be amended, if — 

(1.) The teacher speak the same vernacular as the 
boy. (2.) If all examinations of things be given in a 
known tongue. (3.) If every grammar and lexicon be 
adapted to that tongue (t. e. the vernacular) by means 
of which the new is to be learned. (4.) If the study 
of the new tongue advance by degrees— the pupil be- 
ing taught first to understand, then to write, and finally 
to speak it (which, being extemporaneous, is the most 
difficult). (5.) If, when Latin words are given with 
vernacular, the vernacular words, as being best known, 
always come first. (6.) If the material of study be so 
arranged that the scholar learns first that which is 
nearest, then that which is near, then that which is 
more remote, then finally that which is most re- 
mote (e. g., do not seek illustrations from the- 
ology or politics, but from things at hand and famil- 



92 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OP COMENIUS 

iar.) (7.) If the senses of boys be first exercised, then 
the memory, then the intelligence, 1 and finally the 
judgment. For science takes its beginning from the 
senses, and thence passes into the memory through im- 
agination, then by induction of singulars an under- 
standing of universals is formed, and finally a judg- 
ment as to things understood takes effect, giving the 
certitude of science. 

Fifth Principle. — Nature does not overweight itself 
lut is content with few things at a time — e. g. , it does not 
demand two birds out of one egg. 

Sixth Principle. — Nature does not hurry itself, but 
proceeds slowly — e. g., slow is the hatching of the bird. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) Spend as few hours as possible in public les- 
sons ; four being the right number, as many more 
being left for private study. 

(2.) Fatigue the memory as little as possible, only 
fundamental things being exacted, all else being al- 
lowed to flow freely. 

(3.) Proportion all things to the capacity, which, 
according to the progress of years and studies, will 
grow of itself. 

Seventh Principle. — Nature Pushes nothing for- 
cibly forward ', except what, being already inwardly mo- 
tured, desires to burst forth — e.g., the bird does not 
urge its young to fly till their wings are ready. 

Let nothing, then, be done against the grain. The 

l Intelligence should precede memory, but the term is here 
used of the generalizing power. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 93 

want of desire frequently arises from want of previous 
preparation and explanation. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) Let nothing be attempted with youth except 
those things which their age and ability not only admit 
of but desire. 

(2.) I^et nothing be prescribed as a memory -task 
which has not previously been thoroughly understood. 

(3.) Let nothing be prescribed to be done till the 
form of it and the rule of imitation have been suffi- 
ciently pointed out and impressed. 

Eighth Principle. — Nature assists itselj i?i every 
possible way — e. g. there is vital warmth in the egg 
itself, as well as in the maternal incubator. 

Boys must be so far assisted as to understand what 
is given them to do. The teacher who demands a task 
without sufficient explanation and preparation is as 
cruel as a nurse who would put an infant on the 
ground and tell it to walk. We must bear patiently 
with weakness. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) Let no stripes be inflicted on account of studies; 
(for if the boy does not learn, whose fault is it save the 
teacher's, who either does not know how to make the 
pupil docile, or does not care to do it ?). 

(2.) Let what the pupils have to learn be so placed 
before them and explained that they see it as clearly 
as their own five fingers. 

(3.) And in order that everything may be imprinted 
the more easily, let the senses be applied to the subject 
as often as possible — e. g., let hearing be joined with 



94 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

vision, and the hand with speech. It is not enough to 
tell to the ears, but the teacher must present to the 
eyes, that through them the instruction may reach the 
imagination. Leave nothing until it has been impressed 
by means of the ear, the eye, the tongue, the hand. 
Write up on the walls (or draw) the substance of your 
teaching. Thus the pupils will also acquire the habit 
of writing down in their note-books. 

Ninth Principle. — Nature produces ?iothi?ig the 
use of which is not ultimately apparent. — e. g. wings 
and feet are found to be formed for flying and running. 

Wherefore — 

Let nothing be taught except for manifest use. 

Tenth Principle. — Nature does all things uniformly 
— e. g. , one bird is produced in the same way as all 
other birds. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) Let there be one and the same method for 
instructing in all sciences; one and the same in all 
arts; one and the same in all tongues. 

(2.) Let there be for all school-exercises the same 
order and manner of procedure. 

(3.) Use the same editions of books throughout. 

III. Solide, or Solidly. 1 

Few give a solid amount of instruction to scholars. 
This is a general complaint. 
To cure these evils — 

1 There is in this chapter a good deal of forcing in order to 
make it run on ten principles like the preceding. It is enough 
to enumerate the principles without going into all the details. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 95 

I. Let only things likely to be of solid advantage 
he treated of. 

II. All these should be taught without separating 
any of them from the curriculum. 

III. A solid basis should be laid for each. 

IV. That basis should be laid deep. 

V. Let everything subsequently aimed at rest on 
these same foundations. 

VI. Wherever distinctions are to be made, let these 
be distinctly and most articulately made. 

VII. Let all studies which follow be founded on 
those that go before. 

VIII. Let all things which as a matter of fact cohere 
be always connected in teaching. 

IX. Let everything be arranged according to its 
true relation to the understanding, the memory, and 
the speech. 

X. Let everything be firmly implanted by continual 
exercises. 

First Principle. — Nature begins nothing that will 
be useless. 

Wherefore in schools — 

(i .) Let nothing be taught which is not of the most 
solid utility for this life and the next. 

(2.) If some things have to be instilled into youth 
only for the sake of this life, let them be of such a kind 
as will not hinder the interests of the eternal life, and 
as will produce solid fruit for this life. 

Second Principle. — Nature omits nothing likely to 
be of benefit to the body it is formi?ig . 



96 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Therefore it is that in schools there must be not 
merely knowledge, but also morals and piety. 

Third Principle — Nature docs nothing without a 
foundation or root. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) The love of any studies that are begun should 
be excited in the pupil. 

(2.)The idea (t. e. outline or sketch) of the subject 
to be taught — language or art — should first be given 
before going into particulars . In this way a foundation 
is laid in the mind of the pupil. 

Fourth Principle. — Nature sends its roots deep. 

The general idea of the subject to be taught must 
therefore be deeply impressed. 

Fifth Principle. — Nature produces everything from. 
a root; nothing from any other source. 

Wherefore — 

(i.) Let all things be deduced from the unchange- 
able elements of things. 

(2.) Let nothing be learned by authority, but by 
demonstration, sensible or rational. 

(3.) Let nothing be taught by the analytic method 
only, but rather by the synthetic. 

Sixth Principle. — Nature the more the uses for 
which if prepares anything^ the more articulately docs it 
differentiate it into parts. 

Wherefore — 

Let there be 110 confusion in instruction. 



HIS METHOD OF EDUCATION 97 

Seventh Principle. — Nature, in each of its works, 
is in perpetual progress , never halts, and never attempts 
new things, the former things being cast aside, but only 
continues what has been previously begun, increases it, 
and perfects it. 

Wherefore — 

( i. ) Let all studies be so arranged that the subse- 
quent things shall be founded in what has preceded, 
and be strengthened by them. 

(2.) Let everything which is presented to the pupil, 
and rightly understood, be fixed in the memory. 

Eighth Principle. — Nature binds together every- 
thing by co?itinuous bonds. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) Let the studies of the whole life be so arranged 
that they shall be one encyclopaedia, in which there 
shall be nothing which does not arise out of a common 
root, nothing not in its proper place. 

(2.) Let everything that is taught be so strengthened 
by reasons that no room shall be left for doubt or for- 
getfulness. And further, let all things be taught 
through their causes. 

Ninth Principle. — Nature preserves, between root 
and branches, a true proportion in respect of quantity 
and quality. 

Wherefore — 

(1.) Let everything taught be at once a subject of 
reflection as to its use, lest anything should be learned 
to no purpose (i. e., the root of knowledge must spread 
out into the branches of its various applications; . 



98 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

(2.) Let everything that is learned be communicated 
to others, that nothing may be known to no purpose. 

Tenth Principle. — Nature develops and strengthens 
itself by frequent movement. 

There must therefore in everything be very frequent 
repetitions and exercises. This is pressed strongly by 
Comenius for various reasons. 

Hence — 

The significance of the well-known distich — 

Multa rogare: — Rogata tenere: — Retenta docere. 
Haec tria discipulum faciunt superare magistrum. 

School Management in Relation to Sure, Solid, 
and Easy Instruction. 

Comenius next proceeds to give suggestions for 
school management. This was in his case a demand 
which the reader was entitled to make, because the 
contemplated course of instruction was encyclopaedic, 
and it accordingly was difficult to see how the work 
could be done in the ordinary school life. He held 
that by beginning in due time, by pursuing good meth- 
ods, and by basing all instruction in language on the 
Realities of Knowledge, it was possible to carry j^outh 
with ease and certainty through a Pansophic curri- 
culum. 

The reasons why more rapid progress is not made in 
schools are, he says, these — (1.) Because there are no 
fixed goals marking distinctly how far pupils are to 
be carried in any one year, month, and day. (2.) Be- 
cause no way is marked out of infallibly reaching these 



SCHOOL MANAGEMENT 99 

goals. (3.) Because things that are joined together 
by nature are not taken up as connected, but sepa- 
rately. E. g. Boys are employed in learning to read 
long before they are taught to write. In Latin, again, 
boys are required to struggle with the accidence and 
grammar rules, and with mere words without things. 
He then goes on to point out defects as to the inner 
organization of schools — the masters, the classes, and 
the books — in all which animadversions he is un- 
doubtedly right; but as the defects to which he al- 
ludes for the most part no longer exist in schools, 
we may pass at once to the general rules which he lays 
down. 

He maintains that one teacher will suffice for the 
instruction of any number of boys. It seems to have 
been the custom to teach boys either individually, or 
two t)r three together, in Comenius's time. Comenius 
was consequently right in maintaining that a consider-, 
able number could be taught together in a class. But 
he places no limit on the number. Our modern ex- 
perience tells us there is a limit, if the class is to be 
sufficiently taught. Comenius admits that the teacher 
of one hundred boys could not personally ascertain 
whether all did and understood their work; but by 
arranging Jhern in tens, and putting one of the boys 
(whose work he had ascertained to be accurate) over 
each troop often, he might check their exercises and 
report to the master. The troops of ten he calls De- 
curiae, and their captains Decuriones. 

Then he gives various practical directions for teach- 
ing a large class, most of which are admirable. E. g. , 



100 KDUCATIONAX, SYSTKM OF COMENIUS 

The teacher must make all attentive to himself, and 
this— 

(i.) By always bringing before his pupils somer 
thing pleasing and profitable. 

(2.) By "introducing the subject of instruction in 
such a way as to commend it to them, or by stirring 
their intelligences into activity by inciting questions 
regarding it. . 

(3.) By standing in a place elevated above the 
class, and requiring all eyes to be fixed on him, 

(4.) By aiding attention through the representation 
of everything to the senses as far as possible. 

(5.) By interrupting his instruction by frequent and 
pertinent questions — e. g. Tu aut tu, quid modo dixi ? 
etc., etc. 

(6.) If the boy who has been asked a question 
should fail to answer, by leaping to the second, third, 
tenth, thirtieth, and asking the answer without repeat- 
ing the question. 

(7.) By occasionally demanding an answer from any 
one in the whole class, and thus stirring up rivalry. 

(8.) By giving an opportunity to any to ask ques- 
tions when the lesson is finished. 

In the correction of the numerous written exercises 
which Comenius would give, it would be necessary, oi 
course, to call in the aid of the Decuriones. 

Comenius next speaks of the necessity of all boys, 
using the same books and same editions, and the im- 
portance of a careful construction of school-books. 

He next advocates the necessity of such careful 



SCHOOIv MANAGEMENT 101 

school-order as will insure that the same thing is done 
by all at the same time. 

Then, that all be taught according to the same 
method. 

Next, that few, but select, words be used for the 
explanation of things. 

He next considers how two or three things can be 
done together: — 

(i.) Let words- always be conjoined with things. 
Thereby we shall learn about realities. ' Id agendum 
est,' says Seneca, Ep. ix., ' ut non verbis serviamus sed 
sensibus . ' (2 . ) Let the exercises of reading and writing 
be always conjoined. (3.) Let exercises in style be 
not mere exercises in style, but in matter, so that, 
while they exercise the mind, they also attain some 
solid result. (4.) Let what is learnt by the pupils be 
again taught by them. (5.) Let the serious things of 
life be imitated in a sportive way in school-exercises, 
—e.g. , rivalries may be instituted in certain departments 
of knowledge (collecting of plants, etc.), and the 
pupils who are most successful dubbed Licentiate or 
Doctor. Again, they may be dubbed, in connection 
with other studies, Kings, Councillors, Chancellors, 
Secretaries, and so forth. (6.) Let everthing advance 
step by step. (7.) To prevent all delay and retarda- 
tion of progress, drop out whatever is irrelevant or 
superfluous or too detailed. 



Third Section. 

THE ART OF EDUCATION — /. <\ , THE APPLICATION OF 
METHOD TO PRACTICE. 3 

We have now given a view o( Com emus' S Theory of 
Education, in respect oi Aim and o( Method, The 

remaining half of the treatise, though forming- a con- 
tinuation of the parts which precede it, without any 
indication oi a division, is in point of fact the appli- 
cation of the theory of Method to the Praxis, and 
repetition is unavoidable. 

Comenius recognizes the labor which his conception 
of the school and of method demands of the teacher, 
and desires to show how that labor may be abbreviated 
and the work made possible. As education was then 
conducted, the task which Comenius imposed on teach- 
ers would certainly have been beyond their powers. 
Accordingly he inquires first into the obstructions 
which so retarded the work of schools, that those who 
had spent a large part of their lives in them had not 
even paid their respects to the Arts and Sciences, much 
less acquired a knowledge of them . These obstructions 
are presented as follows, and they are generally merely 
the negation of the positive rules of method already 
enforced: — 

l The division which I have made is not in Comenius. but I 
think it gives a clearer view ot' his system. 



THE APT Or EDUCATION LOS 

( \ .) There are no fixed goals marking distinctly how 
far pupilfl are to be carried in any one year, month, or 
day. 

(2.) No way of infallibly reaching these goals is 
marked out. 

(3.) Things that have a natural connection are not 
taken up together, but separately — e.g. readingwfthout 

writing, words without things. 

(/\.) The arts and sciences are treated of in a frag- 
mentary way, and not encyclopaedically. 

(5.) Different schools have different methods of pro- 
cedure; nay, different teachers in the same school 
follow diverse methods, and even the same teacher 
will employ different methods in the different subjects 
which he tenches. 

((>.) The pre valence of individual teaching and the 
want of classification. 

(j.j [ncrease in the number of masters to meet the 
above objection only increases the confusion. 

(H .) hoys are often allowed by their masters to take 
up what books they please, both in school and out of 
school, instead of being kept in definite lines with pre- 
scribed books. Jioys thus get into a state of mental 
confusion, from which only the more vigorous spirits 
ever extricate themselves. 

In seeking for remedies, Comenius seeks an analogy 
in nature, which, though destitute of intrinsic merit, is 
yet so characteristic of his fanciful mode of procedure 
that I may give it here. 

Take the Sun in the heavens. By the diffusion of 



104 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

his rays lie discharges a laborious and infinite function 
sufficing for all. And how does he work ? 

(i.) He does not occupy himself with objects one 
by one — a tree or an animal, — but illumines and warms 
the whole earth. 

(2 .) By the same rays he lights up all, and discharges 
himself of all his functions. 

(3.) At the same time through all regions he gives 
rise to spring and summer, autumn and winter. 

(4.) He preserves the same order of operation ; as he 
is to-day, so to-morrow, — as he is this year, so next. 

(5.) He produces everything out of its own germ, 
and not from any other quarter. 

(6.) He produces all things together which ought to 
be together. 

(7.) He produces all things by their own steps of 
gradation, so that one thing makes way for another. 

(8.) Finally, he does not produce useless things. 

In imitation of the Sun in its operation: — 

(1.) Let there be only one teacher for a school, or 
at least for a class. 

(2.) In one subject, let there be but one author. 

(3.) Let one and the same labor be expended on the 
whole of the pupils present. 

(4.) Let all disciplines and tongues be taught ac- 
cording to one and the same method. 

(5.) Let all things be taught from the foundation, 
briefly and nervously. 

(6.) Let all things be joined together in teaching 
which are in themselves connected. 

(7.) Let all things advance by indissoluble steps, so 



THE ART OF EDUCATION 105 

that everything taught to-day may give firmness and 
stability to what was taught yesterday, and point the 
way to the work of the morrow. 

(8.) Let everything that is useless be eliminated 
from the teaching. 

There is a curious parallelism here attempted between 
the operations of the sun and of the schoolmaster, but 
always fanciful and frequently strained. I have no 
doubt that the analogies of Nature frequently suggested 
methods to the mind of Comenius, and on the other 
hand, that good school-methods suggested to him the 
modes of operations of Nature as they presented them- 
selves to the non-scientific apprehension of the time. 

Comenius now proceeds to apply the above eight 
principles or rules to school-management, and throws 
what he has to say into the form of problems to be 
solved. 

First Problem. — How can one teacher suffice for a?zy 
number of pupils whatsoever? 

A large number of pupils is in itself an advantage 
to both teacher and taught, stimulating the former and 
exciting sympathy in work and emulation in studies. 
To facilitate the teaching of a large class by one 
instructor, certain rules, however, must be attended to. 
(i.) The whole class should be divided into certain 
-tribes or decuriae, and over each of these an inspector 
or decurio should be appointed. (2.) The teacher 
should teach all at once, and none separately, .either 
in the school or privately — all together and at once 
{simul et semel) . For this it is necessary that he possess 
the art of fixing the attention of all on himself, and of 



106 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

never saying anything except to listeners, and never 
teaching anything save when all are attending. The 
decuriones will be a great aid in securing the attention 
of their various divisions, but the master himself 
should — 

Endeavor always to present some teaching which 
will please and profit the pupils. 

At the beginning of every fresh task, he should pre- 
pare the minds of his pupils, by commending to them 
the new matter, either by showing its coherence with 
what has already been put before, or by starting such 
questions regarding it as will show their ignorance, and 
make them more eager to know. 

He should take up such a position, somewhat raised, 
as will enable him to control the eyes and fix the atten- 
tion of all on himself. 

He should always assist attention by representing 
what he teaches to the eyes of the class. 

He should every now and then interrupt his teaching 
by sudden questions as to what he has just said, or as 
to the steps by which he has reached what he is telling 
them. 

If he fails to get an answer from the boy of whom 
he has asked a question, he should leap to the second, 
third, tenth, thirtieth, for an answer, without repeating 
the question . 

Sometimes, if one or two fail, he should ask the 
whole class, praising the boy who first answers. 

When the lesson is finished an opportunity should be 
given to the pupils to ask public questions of the: 



THE ART OF EDUCATION 107 

master, either regarding the lesson then given, or any 
previous one. 

By following these expedients in teaching, the habit 
of attention is formed in the pupils, not only for the 
passing occasion, but for their whole lives. 

The objection may be made that this class-teaching 
is not sufficient ; that there must be examination of 
the individual exercises written, and of the lessons 
committed to memory ; and that for this many pupils 
demand much time. To this Comenius replies that it 
is not necessary that all be always heard, nor that 
all the exercise-books be always examined. The de- 
curiones will examine each the work of his own division. 
The master himself, as supreme inspector, will pick 
out an exercise to examine here and there, especially di- 
recting himself to those whom he distrusts. As to 
memory-tasks, one, or two, or three should be called 
upon, all the rest listening, to repeat what has been 
prescribed. Each need say a portion only. In this 
way, by the examination of a few in no set order, the 
master will cause all to prepare their work. So in dic- 
tation, call on one or two to read out what they have 
written in a distinct voice, while the rest look on their 
own books and correct their own exercises, the master 
pouncing down on one here and there to see that the 
corrections are being honestly made. 

In the correction of written exercises more labor 
seems to be demanded; but here too, following the 
same line, a plan is found of abbreviating work. In 
translation exercises, for example, one boy should rise 
up and challenge an antagonist. When he has risen 



108 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

the challenger should read his translation, clause by 
clause, all the rest attentively listening, the teacher, or 
if not, a decurion, standing by to inspect the spelling. 
When he has read a sentence, let him pause, and let 
the antagonist then point out any error he may have 
noted. Then let the other members of that decuria 
make their criticisms, and thereafter the whole class, 
and finally the teacher himself. Meanwhile let all the 
pupils look at their translations and make corrections, 
with the exception of the antagonist, who preserves 
his own exercise unaltered, to be in its turn subjected 
to criticism. That sentence being thoroughly cor- 
rected, go to the next, and so to the end. Then let 
the antagonist read off his own exercise in like man- 
ner, under the inspection of his challenger, who will 
see that he has made no corrections. Then call out 
another couple, and so on according to the time avail- 
able, the decuriones taking care that those in their own 
decurise correct their exercises. In this way it will 
happen that the labor of the master will be saved ; that 
all will be instructed, and none neglected ; the attention 
of all will be sharpened ; all will share in whatever is 
said to one ; the variety of phrases iiiapplicadle will 
form and strengthen the judgment as to the matter of 
the exercise, and promote facility in the language. A 
few pairs having had their errors corrected, it will be 
seen that there are now no more errors remaining. 
The rest of the time may be given to the class as a 
whole, for the answering of questions put hy the pupils, 
and for allowing any one to bring forward any turn 



THE ART OF EDUCATION 109 

of expression which he may think better than that 
adopted. 

The above remarks are made with special reference 
to the version, but they are equally applicable to exer- 
cises in Rhetoric, Logic, etc. 

Thus Comenius solves the problem how one teacher 
can suffice for one hundred pupils. 

Second Problem. — The second rule of procedure 
yields this question, How can all be taught from the same 
books ? By requiring the pupils to have the same 
editions, the same lexicons, grammar, etc. It is desir- 
able to publish school-books which will contain, simply 
and popularly put, all that is necessary to teach in 
school. Comenius advocates the dialogue form for 
school-books, because it excites the. interest and re- 
tains the attention better than the didactic form, sup- 
porting his preference by the fact that our lives are 
spent in conversation, and dialogues are easily re- 
peated. He would further paint on the school-room 
walls the skeleton or outline of the contents of the 
books in use. 

Third Problem. — The third rule of procedure 
yields this question : How is it possible that all the 
scholars may be made to do the same thi?ig at the same 
time? By beginning school-work only once a year, 
and arranging it in such a way that every month, week, 
day, and even hour, shall have its own proper task. 

Fourth Problem. — The fourth rule yields the fol- 
lowing question : Hozv can all things be taught according 
to one and the same method? There is only one natural 



110 EDUCATION AL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

method for all studies — sciences, arts, and languages, 
— and this will be shown in the sequel, and has already 
been laid down in its principles. 

Fifth Problem. — The fifth rule yields the question : 
How can the understanding of many things be set forth 
in few words f Fundamental things are to be taught, 
and this not by means of large books or much talk, 
but by means of well selected words and principles, 
and rules easy to be understood, and fruitful in their 
character. A gold coin is of more value than a hun- 
dred leaden ones. As Seneca says, 'Precepts are to 
be sown in the mind as seed is sown in the soil, 
and it is not necessary that they be numerous, but 
efficacious.' 

Sixth Problem. — The sixth rule yields the question: 
How can i?istruction be given so as to do two or three 
things at the same time f A tree grows in every part at 
once ; so with an animal. In school we must imitate 
Nature, guided by the following general canon: — 
'Always and everywhere let the related be taught in 
conjunction with its correlate' — e.g. , words with things, 
reading with writing, etc. 

Above all, never teach words without things, even 
in the vernacular, and whatever the pupils see, hear, 
taste, or touch, let them name. The tongue and the 
intelligence should advance on parallel lines. And 
from this it follows that a boy should never read or re- 
cite anything which he does not understand ; and it 
further follows that all authors are to be banished from 



THE ART OF EDUCATION 111 

school except those who give a knowledge of useful 
things. 

So with reading and writing : let boys be taught not 
merely to read, but to express themselves in writing at 
the same time — an exercise which is pleasing to them , 
and very valuable. But the exercises should not be 
exercises of style merely, but should have reference to 
the department of knowledge they are studying — e. g. y 
histories of the inventors of arts, and the places and 
times in which arts nourished, or it may be, exercises 
of imitation. 

Comenius holds also that boys should teacn as well 
as learn, and that sportive imitations of the serious 
work of life might advantageously be introduced into 
the school side by side with serious employments — e. g. , 
the boys should be encouraged to form themselves into 
a semblance of political and social order, with the 
titles of King, Councillors, Chancellor, Marshal, Sec- 
retaries, Ambassadors, and so forth. 

Seventh Problem. — The seventh rule yields the 
question : How can all things be prosecuted step by step f 
Comenius here refers the reader to those parts of the 
methodology which deal specially with gradual step-by- 
step progress. 

Eighth Problem. — The eighth rule yields the ques- 
tion : How shall we avoid a?id remove causes of retarda- 
tion in our progress ? 

The answer to this is, 'By a wise neglect.' It is 
not the quantity of things known, but the real utility 
of them, that is of importance. Therefore, the school 



112 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMSNIU3 

should neglect whatever is unnecessary, whatever is 
alien to the pupil or subject of study, and whatever 
is too detailed. Unnecessary knowledge is all that 
knowledge which is unnecessary to virtue and religion, 
and all without^which learning is attainable — e.g., the 
names of heathen idols and accounts of pagan rites, 
and all comic and other writings which are immoral in 
their character. Alien things are such as are foreign 
to the natural tendency of the scholar. One boy has a. 
turn for theoretic and another for practical study, one 
for music, another for grammar and logic, and so on. 
It is a waste of time to employ a boy in music who is 
naturally incapacitated for that subject, while he has 
strong aptitude for another. 

Too much detail is also condemned. It is absurd, 
for example, to occupy classes which are studying 
natural history or botany with all the differences of 
plants and animals; or when aits are the subjects of 
study, with the names of all the tools. The school has 
to do with the generic, at most with the leading differ- 
ences; if these are fully and solidly given, the rest 
will be acquired through the occasions of life. Among 
things too detailed are such school-books as full lexi- 
cons, which only serve to confuse and overload a boy. 

Comenius having dealt thus generally with the Art 
of School-teaching, next proceeds to apply Method in 
detail to the teaching of the three branches of all sound 
education, viz., Knowledge, i. e., Sciences and Arts, 
including Language {Erudition) , Morality ( Virtus) , and 
Piety {Religio). 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE 113 

I. Method as applied to Knowledge. 
O.) The Sciences. 

Science is the knowledge of things — the things of 
external sight and of internal sight. As for the former 
are needed the eye, the object, and light, which are the 
conditions of vision, so for the latter are needed the 
eye of the mind, an object, viz. , all things, and the light 
of attention. It is essential to a knowledge of the 
sciences, viz.: — 

i . That the eye of the mind be pure. 

This is a gift of God, speaking generally; but we 
have in our own power not to suffer the looking-glass 
of our mind to be dulled with dust, and its brightness 
obscured. The dust referred to is idle, useless, and 
vain mental occupations. Unless Reason also preside 
over observation, we shall pick up dust and chaff in- 
stead of grain. 

2 . // is necessary that objects be presented to the eye of 
the mind. 

Everything should be presented to as many senses 
as possible, namely, visible things to sight, audible 
things to hearing, odorous things to the smelling sense, 
sapid things to the taste, tangible to the touch, and 
when things have reference to more senses than one, 
they should be presented to all those senses. For the 
beginning of knowledge is from pure sense, not from 
words ; and truth and certitude are testified to by the 
evidence of the senses. The senses are the most faith- 
ful stewards of the memory. Horace truly says (JDe 
Art. Poet. i. 180):— 



114 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem, 
Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quae 
Ipse sibi tradit spectator.' 

Failing the objects themselves, diagrams and pictures 
should be resorted to. 

3. There must also be the light of attention . 
Without this objects would be in vain presented ; by 

means of it the learner receives all things with an 
intelligence alive, and as it were gaping, to receive in- 
struction. 

4. There must be a method of so presenting things that 
a firm impressio?i shall be made. 

Objects must be placed before the eyes, not far off, 
but at a fit distance, directly in front, and not obliquely, 
in such a way that the whole object will be seen all 
round, then part by part, and from the beginning to 
the end, in order. Bach individual character should 
be fixed upon till everything has been seized correctly 
by its differences. 

These considerations as to the teaching of the 
sciences yield nine very useful rules : — 

1 . Whatever is to be k?ww?i must be taught. Perfunc- 
tory or negligent treatment of subjects will not suffice. 

2. Whatever is taught should le taught as a thing 
present to the pupil and of a certai?i and defi?iite use. 

The things around us and their relations to life are 
to be taught. 

3. Whatever is taught should be taught directly, and 
not in a roundabout way — i. e., the thing itself, and not 
elaborate and confused language about a thing. 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE) 115 

4. Everything should be so taught as to show HOW it 
is and becomes — i. e.,per causas. 

To know a thing in its causes is true science. 

5. Priora should come first, and posteriora next; and, 
therefore, whatever is presented as an object of knowledge 
should be presented 5rst generally, and thereafter in its 
parts. 

6. All the parts of a thing should be known, even the 
more minute, none being omitted: also; its order, situa- 
tion, and connection with other things. 

7. All things should be taught successively, but only 
one at a time. 

8. Each point should be insisted on until it is compre- 
he?ided. 

9 . The difference of things should be carefully taught, 
so that there may be a distinct knowledge. Qui bene 
distinguit, bene docet. The variety and the truth of 
things depends on their differences. 

It is true that not all preceptors are equally expert 
in applying method, and to assist them, therefore, the 
sciences to be taught should be expounded in text- 
books, according to the true method of teaching. 

(b.) The Arts {exclusive of Foreign Languages) . 

By the A rts Comenius means Reading the vernacular, 
Writing, Singing, Composition and Rhetoric, Logic or 
Reasoning. His remarks are, however, applicable to 
teaching in Technical Schools in the strict and proper 
sense of the term technical. [By ' Technical ' instruc- 
tion is, in these days, very generally meant instruction 
merely in the elements of physical science generally ; 



116 KDUCATIONAI, SYSTEM OF COM^NIUS 

at other times, in the elements of science in specific 
reference to certain arts or trades; at other times, 
but this rarely, training to specific arts in workshop- 
schools.] 

How are youths to be trained to the. praxis of things ? 

The answer to this is given in eleven canons: — 

i . Let things that have to be done be learned by doing 
them. 

Mechanics and artists do not teach their apprentices 
by disquisitions, but by giving them something to do. 
They are taught to make anything by making it, to 
paint by painting, to dance by dancing, etc. So we 
should teach to write by writing, to read by reading, 
to sing by singing, to reason by reasoning, etc. 

2 . Let there always be prese?it to the pupil a definite 
form and norm of things to be done. 

The pupil can, as yet, do nothing of himself, and 
must have something to imitate. To ask a boy to 
make straight lines, squares, circles, drawings, etc., 
without setting examples before him, and without 
giving him the requisite tools, is cruelty. 

3. Let the use of instruments be pointed out in reality 
rather than in words; that is to say, by example rather 
tha?i by precept. 

Our grammars consist of precepts and rules, and 
exceptions to rules, and limitations of exceptions, so 
that boys are overwhelmed and stupefied. Mechanics 
do not proceed in this way with their apprentices ; but 
let them look at the products of the workshop, and put 
tools in their hands, and train them to imitate their 
masters, admonishing them more by example than by 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE 117 

Words if they see them go wrong. So it is also that 
children learn to walk, speak, run, and play, viz., by 
imitation. Precepts require application and vigor of 
mind, whereas the feeblest are assisted by examples. 
As Quintilian says, * Longum et difficile iter est per 
praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.' 

4. Let practice begin from the elements, and not from 
completed works. 

A carpenter does not start his pupil with the build- 
ing of turrets or citadels, but requires him to hold an 
axe, cut wood, bore holes, drive nails, etc. So acts a 
painter with his pupil . Nor do we teach to read by 
placing a book before a child, but by giving him first 
the letters, then syllables, then words. In grammar, 
accordingly, we should give the tyro first single words, 
then two together to be declined, then simple sentences, 
then sentences with two and three clauses, till we bring 
him to the full period and the complete oration. In 
rhetoric, we should exercise in synonyms, in attaching 
appropriate epithets, in varying sentences by peri- 
phrasis, and so gradually bring the pupil to the more 
ornamental parts of style. 

5. Let the first exercises of tyros be in a known subject. 
This has been, in a former part of this treatise, laid 

down. Pupils should not be burdened with things 
remote from their age, powers of comprehension, and 
present condition : this is to cause them to struggle 
with shadows. That the boy may understand things, 
take examples, not from Cicero, or Virgil, or theo- 
logians, etc., but from things familiar, — his book, 
clothes, trees, house, school, etc. We in this way 



118 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

connect what has to be learned with what is already 
known, and make remembrance and the further exten- 
sion of knowledge in the same direction easy. In 
rules, the application of a rule being shown from a first, 
second, or third known example, the boy will find it 
easy to imitate it in all others. 

6. Let imitation be always for a time the direct and 
close imitation of a prescribed rule; at a later stage the 
imitation may be freer. 

y. Let the things which are given as patterns be as per- 
fect as possible, so that we may be able to pronounce him 
perfect in his art who adequately imitates them. 

This applies, not merely to the perfection of lines, 
drawings, etc., to be imitated, but also to instruction 
in rules, which should be very brief, very lucid and 
intelligible. 

8 . Let the strictest accuracy in imitation be insisted on 
in the first attempt, so that there may not be the slightest 
departure from the norm. 

This is necessary, because the beginnings are the 
foundations of all that follows, and any looseness in 
the foundations will tell throughout. There should be 
no haste ; he gets on fast enough who does not wander 
from the road. 

9. Let any deviatio?i from accuracy be corrected by the 
master there and then; but let him add observations by 
way of rules or directions. 

Arts are to be taught by examples rather than by 
rules ; but very brief and lucid rules, exhibiting what 
is implicit in the examples, should be given — e. g. 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE 119 

from what point to start the task, at what point to aim, 
in what way to advance. 

10. A perfect discipline in an art consists in synthesis 
and analysis. 

That is to say, a pupil must first, beginning with the 
most simple forms, be taught to construct in accord- 
ance with a perfect pattern. This synthetic exercise, 
with the help of such rules as have been formerly ad- 
verted to as requisite, having been sufficiently practised, 
the pupils should be introduced to the analysis of the 
work of others, that they may see the art in full opera- 
tion, and discuss the principles which underlie success- 
ful work. 

1 1 . Exercises should be continued till the habit of the 
art has been formed. 

(V.) Languages. 

Languages are taught, not as themselves a part of 
learning or wisdom, but as the instrument of acquiring 
learning and wisdom, and communicating them to 
others . All tongues are not to be learned . This would 
be as impossible as it would be useless, and interfere 
with the time due to acquiring a knowledge of things. 
Necessary languages, accordingly, are alone to be 
learned, —first, the vernacular ; seco?idly, the languages 
of neighboring nations; thirdly, Latin, as the common 
tongue of the learned. Theologians will study Greek 
and Hebrew, and physicians Greek and Arabic. 

Nor should the whole of any language be learned, 
but only what is necessary. It is not necessary to learn 
to speak Greek and Hebrew as if we had to converse 



120 KDUCATlONAIv SYSTEM OF COMKNIUS 

in them, but only to learn them so far as is needful for 
the understanding of what is written in these tongues. 
The study of languages should run parallel with the 
study of things, especially in youth, for we desire to 
form men, not parrots. 

From which it follows that words that denote things 
are not to be learned separately and individually, 
because things do not exist separately, but are seen 
as being here or there, as doing this or that, as con- 
joined with other things. This is the key to the Ja?zua 
Linguarum} In this book, only necessary words are 
employed, contrary to the practice of some amplifiers 
of the book, who stuff it with unusual words, and words, 
too, away from the ordinary apprehension of the 
young. And those make a similar mistake who occupy 
the minds of the young with great authors such as 
Cicero, instead of with language that treats of boyish 
things, reserving adult things for the adult. Knowl- 
edge of language advances, like the intellect, step by 
step ; Nature does not proceed per sallum, nor does 
art when it imitates Nature. A boy must be taught 
to walk before he can be taught to dance. He must 
prattle before he speaks, and he must speak before 
he can make an oration. The following eight rules 
will make the acquisition of languages short and 
easy : — 

i . Let every language be learned separately. 

First, the vernacular is to be learned, and then a 
neighboring modern tongue, then Latin, and there- 
after Greek, Hebrew, etc.: and, to prevent confusion, 
1 See the chapter under this heading in the sequel. 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE} 121 

let them be learned always one after the other, and not 
together. When a firm hold has been got of each, they 
may, with great benefit, be compared. 

2 . Let every language have a definite space of time 
assigned to it. 

As we must have respect to things, and as the ver- 
nacular is more closely and naturally allied with things 
which present themselves gradually to the intellect, it 
demands more time than any other tongue, — probably 
eight or ten years ; that is to say, the whole of infancy, 
and part of boyhood. Then should follow a modern 
tongue, which can be sufficiently acquired in one year; 
then I^atin, which may be despatched in two years; 
Greek in one, and Hebrew in half a year. 

3. Let every language be learned by practice rather 
than by precept. 

That is to say, by reading, re-reading, transcribing, 
attempting imitations by hand and tongue — all as 
often as possible. . 

4. Let precepts, however, aid and strengthen practice. 
This has been adverted to in the last chapter, and is 

specially necessary in the acquisition of the learned 
tongues, though applicable also to spoken languages. 

5 . Let the precepts of language be grammatical, not 
philosophical. 

That is to say, let them state the what and the how 
ef a usage, and not enter with subtlety into the why of 
phrases and forms of syntax . This kind of speculation 
is philosophical, not philological. 

6. Let the precepts of a new language be first known 
as differences from languages already known. 



122- EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

It is not only useless to teach what is common to a 
new language with one already acquired, but it is con- 
fusing and overwhelming. In Greek grammar there is 
a very great deal which is common to it with Latin, 
and only those things are to be taught in which Greek 
differs from Latin, the rest being assumed. A very 
few leaves will suffice to hold all that is new in Greek 
syntax, and everything will be thus more distinct to 
the pupil, easier, and more firmly got hold of. 

7. Let the first exercises i?i a new tongue be about sub- 
jects already known to the pupil. 

Not with a view to things, but with a view to the 
more rapid command of words. The Catechism or 
Bible History, for example, where the matter is known 
and the same words frequently recur, would be good, 
books for the purpose ; or the Vestibulum and Ja?iua. 

8. Let all tongues be learned by one and the same 
method. 

Comenius next sets forth the different steps in 
learning a language, and divides the time into four 
ages : — 

The prattling age of Infancy , with its corresponding 
book — the Vestibulum. 

The Boy age — the age of speaking correctly, with 
its corresponding book — the fanua. 

The fuvenile age — when elegant speech may be ac- 
quired, with its corresponding book — the Atrium, 
[here called the Palatium] . 

The Virile age — the age of nervous speech, with 
its corresponding book, being extracts from good 



HOW TO IMPART KNOWLEDGE 123 

authors — the Thesaurus [afterwards called, the Pa- 
latium] . 

The Vestibulum should consist of little sentences, in 
which several hundreds of the more common words 
should be conveyed, with an appendix of the declen- 
sions and conjugations. The Janua should contain all 
the usual words in a language ; about 8000 should be 
i given in short sentences naturally expressed, with an 
iappendix of short and clear grammar rules. The 
Palatium should contain treatises on all sorts of things, 
in every kind of phraseology, with attention to elegance 
of diction, accompanied with marginal notes on authors 
from whom passages have been taken, and rules for 
varying words and phrases in a thousand ways. The 
Thesaurus will be composed of the classical authors 
themselves, with rules for observing and collecting 
nervous phraseology and varying idioms. A list of 
authors not read, but who may be afterwards useful, 
should be added. 

Comenius would not put a dictionary of a language 
into the hands of a beginner, but would have certain 
subsidiary books constructed for each stage in Latin — 
a Latin-vernacular and vernacular-Latin vocabulary 
for those using the Vestibulum; an etymological lexicon 
for those using the Janua; a lexicon of phrases, 
synonyms, etc. (Latino-Latin, Gr sec o- Greek), forthose 
using the Palatium; and finally, a Promptuarizim Ca- 
tholicon (vernacular and Latin) for those using the 
Thesaurus, and in which everything may be found which 
will exhibit the resources of the language. 



124 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

II. Method applied to Morality. 

As yet Method has been thought of in relation only 
to knowledge — to science, arts, including language — 
to which we may apply the remark of Seneca, 'Noil 
discere ista deb emus sed didicisse.' They are in truth 
only preparatory to the true end, the pursuit of phil- 
osophy, whereby we may become elevated, strong, 
high-minded. We, as Christians, designate this end of 
education, morality and piety, or virtue and religion, 
instruction in which has to be introduced into all 
schools. Sixteen rules for the instilling of morality 
may be given: — 

i. All the virtues, without exception, are to be im- 
pla?ited in youth. 

This is essential to a harmony of the moral nature— 
harmonia morum. 

2. But, first of all, the primary or cardinal virtues 
have io be implanted, viz.. Prudence, Temperance, For- 
titude, a?id Justice. 

Firm foundations must be laid for a building, that 
all the various parts may cohere well with the basis. 

3. Byleami?ig the true differences of things, and their 
values, pupils will be instructed in Prudence. 

Sound judgment is the foundation of all virtue. We 
must know the precise nature of each thing if we are 
to discern the good from the bad, the desirable from 
the undesirable. 

4. Duri?ig the whole period of instruction let the young 
be taught Temperance in eating and dri?iking , sleep and 
waking, labor and play , speaking and keeping silence. 

The golden rule is Ne quid nimis. 



HOW TO INSTII, MORALITY 125 

5. Let boys learn Fortitude by overcoming them- 
selves ; to wit, by checking their desire to run about and 
play beyond the proper time, or at the wrong time; by 
restraining their impatience, their grumbling , their anger. 

Man is a rational animal, and must be guided by 
reason if he is to be truly king over his own actions. 
But inasmuch as not all the boys are fully capable of 
reasoning, they will be taught self-command by being 
accustomed to do the will of another rather than their 
own, by promptly obeying, in all things, those above 
them. 

U?ider Fortitude we include an honorable frankness of 
speech and tolera?ice of labor. 

Ingenuous frankness is acquired by frequent conver- 
sation with honorable men, and by doing in their si°-ht 
what has been ordered . Aristotle so educated Alexan- 
der that in his twelfth year he conversed with all sorts 
of men intelligently, kings and ambassadors, learned 
and unlearned, townspeople and rustics, and could 
contribute something apposite to the conversation, 
either in the way of question or answer. Conversation 
with their elders, becomingly and modestly conducted, 
should be encouraged in the young, and their faults of 
manner thus corrected. 

The young will acquire tolerance of labor if they 
are always doing something or other— either work or 
play. Perpetual but moderate occupation of mind and 
body give rise to industrious and active habits. ' Ge- 
nerosos animos labor nutrit,' says Seneca. 

6. Justice will be learned by doing harm to no one, 



126 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

by giving to each his own, by avoiding lying and deceit, 
by bei?ig generally serviceable and amiable. 

Under Justice is included promptitude and alacrity in 
servi?ig others. 

The inherent vice of selfishness is thereby counter- 
acted, and regard for the public good engendered. 
The boy has to be taught the scope of our life, — that 
we are born not for ourselves alone, but for God and 
our fellow-men. 

7. The formation of the virtues should begin from 
te?ider years , before vices take possession of the soul. 

If good seed be not sown, the field will still produce, 
but the produce will, in that case, be weeds and tares. 
Begin from the earliest years to plough and sow, if 
you would reap a harvest. 

8. The virtues are learned by co7ista7itly doing honor- 
able things. 

Things to be known are learned by knowing, things 
to be done by doing; therefore, obedience is to be 
learned by obeying, abstinence by abstaining, truth- 
fulness by speaking the truth, constancy by being con- 
stant, and so forth. 

9. Let the examples of a well-constituted life always 
shine as a lamp before children — the examples of parents, 
nurses, teachers, school-fellows. 

Boys are as imitative as apes, and learn to imitate 
long before they learn to know. Historical examples 
are good, but living examples are better. 

10. Nevertheless, precepts and rules of life are to be 
added to examples. 



HOW TO INCULCATE PIETY 127 

The precepts of Scripture and the sayings of wise 
men should be taught. 

1 1 . Children are to be most diligently guarded against 
intercourse with bad companions , lest they be infected. 

Vicious example is a poison to the mind, whether it 
enter by the eye or ear. In consequence of our de- 
praved nature, evil things cling with wonderful facility 
and tenacity. Idleness leads to evil, and hence the 
importance of constant occupation, be it work or play. 

1 2 . Discipline is necessary for the purpose of with- 
standing immoral habits. 

By discipline is meant reproof by words and chastise- 
ment by stripes. Punishment by stripes should be 
reserved for moral offences. This subject in further 
treated of below. 

III. Method as appued to Piety. 

Though piety is the gift of God through the Holy 
Spirit, yet as the Spirit commonly acts through or- 
dinary means — parents, teachers, and ministers of the 
Church, — it is right to consider the method of the 
duties of these instruments. 

Comenius gives great prominence to this part of his 
Didactic, and treats of it at considerable length ; but it 
cannot be said that Method in any strict application 
of that term is successfully exhibited in its relation 
to religious instruction. The chapter on this subject 
is in reality a series of propositions in which the order 
of Christian doctrinal teaching is laid down, and to 
some extent the manner of it. The following para- 
graphs contain the substance of his instructions : — 



128 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

After laying down three sources of piety, viz., the 
Holy Scriptures, the world or nature, and ourselves 
(i. e. , the natural instincts and intuitions which give a 
knowledge of God, and our dependence on Him), he 
says that there are three ways of cherishing piety, viz., 
meditation on the words, works, and goodness of God ; 
prayer, which he defines to be perpetua ad Dewn 
suspiratio ; and self-examination. ' Examine yourselves 
whether ye be in the faith : prove your own selves.' 
(2 Cor. xiii. 5). 

In educating children in religion we should attend to 
the following rules : — 

Begin in infancy ; we must sow good seed. 

From the very first accustom the child to express 
devotion bodily with, his eyes, hands, feet, and tongue; 
by gazing towards heaven, spreading out his palms, 
bending his knees, and invoking God and Christ, 
reverencing and adoring the invisible Majesty. 

Let' them be taught that we are here not for this life 
alone, but that eternity is our goal ; that our chief 
aim is to be so prepared as worthily to enter eternal 
habitations ; and that all we do must have the future 
life in view, and that we must constantly bear in mind 
the twofold destiny that awaits man hereafter. 

I^et them be taught that thrice happy are they who 
so regulate their lives as to be worthy of dwelling with 
God ; that whosoever walk with God here, will dwell 
with him everlastingly, and that by walking with God 
is meant having Him constantly before our eyes, fear- 
ing Him, and keeping His commandments. 

Let them be taught to refer all things — whatsoeve 



HOW TO INCUIvCATB PIETY 129 

they hear or see, do Or suffer — to God, mediately or 
immediately. 

Let them learn to occupy themselves from the 
earliest years with those things that lead to God — the 
reading of the Holy Scriptures, the exercises of divine 
worship, and good works. 

Let the Holy Scriptures be the Alpha and Omega of 
Christian schools. 

Let whatever is learned from Scripture be referred to 
the three graces of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and let 
these graces be taught with reference to practice . These 
will be taught in relation to practice if the young be 
taught to believe all that God has revealed, to do what 
He commands, and to hope for what he promises. 

Let boys be accustomed to the doing of those works 
commanded by Heaven, that by those works they may 
show forth their faith — the works, namely, of temper- 
ance, justice, compassion, patience, etc. 

Let them be taught to see clearly the purposes of 
the benefits God confers, and of the chastisements He 
inflicts. 

Let them be exhorted to keep the way of the Cross 
as the most secure way, and let care be taken that no 
vicious examples obstruct them in their path. 

Finally, let them be taught that, since, because of 
the imperfection of their nature, they can do no good 
thing, they must rely on the perfection of Christ, the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. 

The mode of dexterously doing all this in the 
different classes of the school has to be carefully con- 
sidered. 



130 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Comenius maintains at considerable length, and with 
occasional eloquence, the necessity of either banishing 
Pagan authors from schools, or at least of using them 
with caution . Realists like Comenius discouraged purely 
classical studies, not merely because they usurped the 
place which ought to be assigned to the study of sub- 
jects having a practical bearing on this life, but also 
because they obstructed or at least did not promote, 
the true ends of a Christian school. 

All now accept the opinion that the classical authors 
are to be read by boys with due caution ; but I imagine 
that none will be found to take the restricted view that 
they should be excluded altogether from schools, even 
on religious grounds. Strict logical reasonings from a 
fundamental principle are justly suspected when they 
land us in such conclusions, and the majority of teachers 
are content to sacrifice logic rather than part with their 
common sense. 

IV. On School Discipline. 

The Bohemians say that ' A school without discipline 
is a mill without water. ' For take the water away and 
the mill stops; take discipline away and the school 
lags. It does not follow from this that a school is 
to be a place of cries, blows, and weals ; but there 
must be vigilance and attention, both in the teacher 
and taught. 

What is discipline save a certain way whereby 
scholars (discipuli) are made to be truly scholars ? 

Let us consider, then, discipline in its end, its 
matter, and its form — its cur, quando, quomodo. 



ON SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 131 

i . The end of discipline. — This is not the punishment 
of a transgressor for a fault he has committed (the 
done cannot be undone), but the prevention of the 
recurrence of the fault. Accordingly, the master must 
execute punishment without passion , anger, or hatred, 
but in such a way that the boy under discipline will 
recognize that is done for his good, and on that 
account will accept it as he would accept a disagreeable 
draught from a physician. 

2. — The matter of discipline . — A severe discipline is 
not to be exercised in the matter of studies, but only 
in that of morals. If subjects of study are rightly 
arranged and taught, they themselves attract and allure 
all save very exceptional natures ; and if they are not 
rightty taught, the fault is in the teacher, not the pupil. 
Moreover, if we do not know how to allure to study by 
skill, we shall certainly not succeed by the application 
of mere force. There is no power in stripes and blows 
to excite a love of literature, but a great power, on the 
contrary, of generating weariness and disgust. A 
musician does not dash his instrument against a wall, 
or give it blows and cuffs, because he cannot araw 
music from it, but continues to apply his skill till he 
extracts a melody. So by our skill we have to bring 
the minds of the young into harmony, and to the love 
of studies, if we are not to make the careless unwilling 
and the torpid stolid. A spur and stimulus are often 
needed, but a sharp word or a public reproof, or the 
praise of others who are doing well, will generally 
suffice. 

Those who transgress in moral matters are to be 



132 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMKNIUS 

more seriously dealt with. Impiety, for example, such 
as blasphemy and obscenity, and all that is done 
against the lav/ of God, constitute serious offences, 
and can be expiated only by a severe chastisement. 
Contumacy and deliberate perversity, wilful non-doing 
of what the pupil knows ought to be done — are to be 
punished. Also, pride, envy, and sloth. 

3. The how of discipline. — The sun (regarded by 
Comenius as the cause of atmospheric changes) always 
gives forth light and warmth, often rain and wind, 
rarely thunder and lightning. So (1.) the teacher 
should always shine as an example, in his own person 
and conduct, of all he requires- from others. (2.) By 
words of instruction, exhortation, and occasionally re- 
proof, he should labor to sustain discipline, being most 
careful that all he says verily comes from a parental 
interest in and affection for his pupils; for if the pupils 
do not see this they harden their hearts against 
discipline. (3.) If any pupil is of so unhappy a dis- 
position that these gentler methods fail, more violent 
remedies should be applied, lest anything should be 
left undone before utterly despairing of a boy; but 
great care has to be exercised that we do not resort to 
extreme remedies except in extreme cases. Extrema 
in extremis. The whole object of discipline, we must 
never forget, is to form in those committed to our 
charge a disposition worthy of the children of God. 1 

1 Speaking of the improvement of schools, Protessor Eil- 
hardus Lubinus says: — ' Prorsus sentio virgas et verbera ser- 
vilia ilia instrumenta ac ingeniis minime convenientia minime 
in scholis adhibenda sed procul removenda esse et adtnovenda 
mancipiis et servilis animi nequam servis.' 



PRACTICAL HINTS 133 

This is the end of Method as applied to Knowledge, 
Virtue, and Religion, and it seems to be a fit place to 
introduce some precepts of Comenms which are given 
in the Dissertatio de sermonis Latini studio. 

Practical Hints to the Teachkr of a Class. 

i . Let the teacher not teach as much as he is able to 
teach, but only as much as the learner is able to learn. 

2 . Whatever difficulty and trouble scholastic labors 
bring, let these be borne by the teacher, nothing being 
left to the pupil except the desire to imitate, and the 
acquisition of facility in imitating. 

3. Whatever teachers wish their pupils to know, let 
them set forth that thing with the greatest possible 
perspicuity. 

4. Whatever teachers wish their pupils to do, let 
lot them point out the way by themselves doing it. 

5 . Let nothing ever seem so easy as to relieve the 
teach -r of the duty of striving, in various ways, to 
make it more perspicuous and more easy of imitation. 

6. Never let the pupils be overburdened with a mass 
of things to be learned. 

7. Three things always are to be formed in the pupil, 
viz., mind, hand, and tongue. 

8. And these three come one after the other. It is 
the easiest of the three to understand anything ; the 
next is to imitate it in writing; the most difficult, and 
that which is nearest perfection, is to be able to express 
it with the tongue. This is applicable to arts and 
sciences as well as language. Let the teachers there- 
fore give heed that, whatever they desire their pupils 



134 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

to learn easily and successfully, shall advance by these 
gradations without confusion. 

9. Always let examples precede, as being the matter 
of instruction ; let precepts and rules follow, as the 
form. 

10. Never dismiss any subject which has been begun, 
until it is thoroughly finished. Let the teacher never 
take more matter for a lesson than can be both set forth 
and expounded within the same hour, and impressed 
on the intellect and memory of the pupils during that 
same hour by fit examples. 

11. Let the first foundations of all things be 
thoroughly laid, unless you wish the whole super- 
structure to totter. 

12. Accordingly, whatever the teacher begins to 
teach, let him give pains to see that it is accurate, and 
so firmly learnt that those things which follow can be 
safely built on the top of it. 

13. If anything has been wrongly apprehended, take 
care that it do not drive roots into the mind, but that 
it be immediately torn up. 

14. Whatever is taught, let it be taught accurately, 
that it may not cause misconception. 

15. Let similar diligence be applied in giving exer- 
cises in style (composition) . 

16. To insure this, let the example, which is given 
for imitation, be unexceptionable, and let the imitation 
of it be attempted only in the master's presence, and 
under his inspection. 

17. By far the greatest abridgment of labor is foi 



PRACTICAL HINTS 135 

the teacher not to teach one boy alone, but many 
together. 

18. In order that this may be done, two things are 
necessary : — 

(a.) That those pupils only be admitted into the 
same class who are of equal advancement, and that 
they be admitted at the same time. 

(£.) That skill be used, with a view to secure that 
none of the pupils shall be ignorant of that which is 
taught to all. 

19. To secure this, the following things must be 
attended to — 

(a.) Let the teacher take care that he always brings 
to his class something in the way of instruction likely 
to please and to profit. 

(3.) At the beginning of every task the minds of the 
pupils should be prepared for the instruction, either 
by commending to their attention the subject to be 
taught ; or by putting questions on what has been al- 
ready taught, which lead up to the new by showing its 
coherence with the old; or by bringing out their 
ignorance of the subject, so that they may receive the 
explanation of it with greater avidity. 

(V.) Let the master stand in a somewhat elevated 
position, where he can see all round him and so prevent 
any one from doing anything else but looking at him. 

(d.) Let him always assist the attention of the pupils 
by presenting everything, in so far as possible, to the 
senses (hearing, seeing, etc.). 

(<?.) Let the teacher sharpen the attention of the 



136 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMKNIUS 

pupils by occasionally asking one here and there, 'What 
was it I just said?' ' Repeat it,' etc. 

(/.) If any one who has been asked a question fails, 
let the teacher go to the second, third, -tenth, thirtieth, 
without repeati7ig the questio?i. 

(£\) If one or another cannot do it, let him ask the 
question of the whole class and praise publicly the one 
who answers first and best ; and, 

(k.) When the lesson is finished, let an opportunity 
be given to pupils of asking the teacher questions, 
whether with reference to the lesson then given or to 
any previous lesson. 

These precepts in the art of teaching are not given 
for the sake of the school alone, but because they pro- 
mote habits in the pupil which are of value in after 
life. 



Fourth Section. 

ON THE GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF A SCHOOL 

SYSTEM. 

A certain fixed time ought to be .set apart for the 
complete education of youth, at the end of which they 
may go forth from school to the business of life, truly 
instructed, truly moral, truly religious. 

The time that is required for this is the whole period 
of youth, that is to say, from birth to manhood, which 
is fully attained in twenty-four years. Dividing the 
twenty-four years into periods of six years each, we 
ought to have a school suited to each period, viz., the 
school of — 

i . Infancy: — the mother's lap up to six years of age. 

2. Boyhood: — Indus literarius, or vernacular public 
school. 

3. Adolescence: — the Latin School or Gymnasium. 

4. Youth: — the University (Academia), and travel. 
The Infant School should be found in every house, 

the Vernacular School in every village and community, 
the Gymnasium in every province, and the University 
in every kingdom or large province. 

In these various schools the same things will be 
taught, each subject being adapted to the stage of pro- 
gress ; in the earlier stages subjects will be taught 

(137) 



13S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

more broadly and generally, in the later more in detail*. 

In the Mother School the external senses chiefly will 
be exercised in relation to objects and the distinguish- 
ing of these. In the Vernacular School the inner 
senses, imagination, 1 and memory will be exercised 
along with their executory organs, the tongue and 
hand, by means of reading, writing, drawing, singing,, 
counting, measuring, weighing, and learning by heart. 
In the Gymnasium the intellect and judgment w T ill be: 
formed by means of dialectic, grammar, rhetoric, and 
the 'what' and 'why' of the real sciences and arts. 
In the University those things will be taught which 
depend on the Will of man and reduce the mind to 
harmony, e.g.. Theology, Mental Philosophy, Medicine 
(t, e. y knowledge of the vital functions of the Body),, 
Jurisprudence. 

That this is the true method of procedure is mani- 
fest; for first external things are impressed on the 
senses, then the mind seeks to express what it has re- 
ceived by reproducing the images of things in memory, 
and by the tongue and hand. Intelligence thereafter 
applies itself to what has been so acquired, and com- 
pares and weighs that it may learn the reasons and 
causes of things, thereby promoting the understanding 
of things and judgments regarding them. Finally, the: 
Will seeks to establish its sovereignty over all things. 
To interfere with this order is to trifle with the whole 
subject, and yet this is what those do who introduce 
boys to Logic, Ethics, Poetry, Rhetoric, before they 
have an adequate knowledge of the realities of sense.. 
1 I.e., the representative and reproductive imagination. 



ORGANIZATION OF A SCHOOL SYSTEM 139 

Again, the Mother School and the Vernacular School 
will train all the population of both sexes ; the Gymna- 
sium will train those boys who aim at being something 
higher than artisans ; and the University will form the 
future teachers and guides of others, so that there may 
never be wanting for the Church, School, or State, fit 
governors. These grades of schools find their analogy 
in the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of the year. 
But all these things have to be fully developed ; and 
this Comenius now proceeds to do. 

I. The Idea of the Mother School. 

In the Infant School (which is the family) the ele- 
ments have to be taught of everything necessary to 
the building-up of the life of man, and we shall show 
that this is possible by running over the different de- 
partments of knowledge. 

(a.) Metaphysics. — Conception in infants is general 
and confused ; they do not distinguish things accord- 
ing to kind; but general terms are familiar to them 
and arise out of ordinary observation, viz., Something, 
Nothing, Is, Is-not, So, Otherwise, Where, When, 
L,ike, Unlike, etc., which things are the foundations of 
Metaphysics. 

(£.) Physics. — In this infant stage the child will learn 
the rudiments of natural knowledge ; he learns to know 
water, earth, fire, rain, snow, ice, stone, iron, tree, 
grass, bird, fish, ox, etc., etc., and the parts of his 
own body. 

(c.) The beginnings of Optics he learns when he 
learns to name light, darkness, and the principal colors. 



140 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

(d.) Astronomy he begins when he learns to name 
sun, moon, star, constellation, and the rising and 
setting of these. 

(e.) The beginnings of Geography are learned when 
the child understands what a mountain is, a plain, a 
valley, a river, a village, a city, a state. 

(/.) Chronology is learned in its rudiments in learn- 
ing what an hour is, a day, a week, a month, a year, 
yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow, etc. 

(g.) History he learns in learning what has recently 
happened, and the way in which it happened, and how 
this or that man conducted himself. 

(k.) Arithmetic he learns by finding out the much 
and the little, by counting up to 10, and by the simplest 
forms of addition and subtraction. 

(z\) The rudiments of Geometry are learned in dis- 
covering what is great and small, long and short, broad 
and narrow, thick and thin, a line, a circle, etc., and 
the ordinary measures. 

(J.) Statics are learned in observing the light and 
heavy, and by balancing things. 

(£.) Mechanics are learned by causing the children 
to carry things from one place to another, to arrange 
things, to build and take to pieces, to tie and untie. 
All such things the young delight to do, and they 
have merely to be encouraged and directed in doing 
them. 

(/.) The beginnings even of Dialectic are taught by 
question and answer, and by requiring direct and ade- 
quate answers to interrogations. 

(*».*) Grammar is acquired by the child in its ele- 



THE MOTHKR SCHOOL 141 

ments through the right articulating of his mother- 
tongue, letters, syllables, words. 

(n.) Rhetoric is acquired, in its beginnings, by hear- 
ing the use of metaphors in ordinary conversation, and 
of the rising and falling inflection in speech. 

(o.) The foundation of a taste for poetry is laid by 
learning little verses chiefly of a moral kind. 

(p.) The daily exercises of household piety, includ- 
ing the singing of easy psalms and hymns, will give 
the elements of music. 

(q.) The rudiments of Economics are furnished by 
noting the relations of father, mother, domestic ser- 
vant, and the parts of a house and its furnishings. 

(r.) Of Polity less can be learned, but even in this 
sphere some knowledge of the civil government and 
the names of governors and magistrates may be ac- 
quired . 

(s.) But above all, the foundations of Morality have 
to be firmly laid — by training to temperance in all 
things, cleanliness of habits, due reverence to superiors, 
prompt obedience, truthfulness, justice, charity, con- 
tinual occupation, patience, serviceableness to others, 
civility. 

(/.) In Religion and Piety the beginnings are to be 
laid. The elements of the Christian religion should 
be committed to memory, and the child should be 
trained to recognize the perpetual presence of God, 
his dependence on Him, and to see in Him a punisher 
of evil and a rewarder of good. Simple prayers should 
be taught, and the child led to bend the knee and fold 
the hands in prayer. 



142 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Such is the task of the Mother-School, of which 
Comenius promises to treat in more detail in a separate 
treatise, entitled Inforntatorium Scholae Mater nac. 

In this separate treatise, however, little is added to 
what has been already laid down. He urges his points 
in more detail certainly, but without adding anything 
new. The value of the treatise consists in its horta- 
tory character. The more important additions are 
under the heads of discipline, of childish occupations, 
and of bodily health. 

As to discipline, he denounces as intolerable the 
noise, irregularity, and license of some families, and 
urges as a remedy the example of elders , and verbal 
reproof; but above all, encouraging words, which tell 
powerfully with children. In the last resort only is 
the rod advocated. 

In the matter of occupations, he urges the encourage- 
ment of all kinds of sports, and especially the love of 
constructing buildings, etc., in imitation of what they 
see, which is a natural instinct of children. 

The bodily health of the child must be a prime ob- 
ject, as bodily vigor is the condition of all proper 
mental growth. It is not enough simply to pray that 
our children may be healthy and vigorous. God's 
blessing is given to labor on our part. Even during 
pregnane}', the mother should keep in mind her dut3 T 
to her offspring. She should devote her mind to re- 
ligious exercises more than usual, avoid all excesses in 
eating and drinking, and all mental anxieties ; and yet 
she should not be idle or luxurious, but occupy herself 
with alacritv and cheerfulness in her usual duties. 



THE VERNACULAR SCHOOL 143 

'Comenius denounces in fervent language the employ- 
ment of milk-nurses, holding that both Nature and 
Divine Providence have marked out the duty of suck- 
ling as at once a maternal duty and privilege. Af- 
ter the child is weaned, simple diet only should be 
given, such as bread, milk, butter, and some kinds of 
vegetables. 

Hooks containing pictures of things should be put 
into the hands of. little children. This will stimulate 
their observation, and help them to read, especially if 
the names of the things drawn or painted are written 
under the representations. 

All the work of the Mother- School is to be done in 
the family circle. 

II. The Idea or the Vernacular School. 

By the Vernacular School Comenius means what we 
now call the Primary School, and he presumes it to 
be attended by children from the age of six to twelve 
(their thirteenth year;. 

The scope and the aim of the Vernacular School are 
stated in the form of an answer to those who hold that 
such schools are only for girls, and those boys whose 
destiny in life is industrial, and who maintain that for 
those whose duration of education is to be more pro- 
longed and whose aim is higher, the Latin School or 
•Gymnasium is the proper place from the first. 

It is evident, he says, that this view is opposed to 
all the principles that have been laid down. If it be 
that our duty is to instruct all human beings in all those 
things that have to do with human affairs, they must 



144 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMKNIUS 

all go through the same course as long as they hold to- 
gether. We desire to instruct all alike in moralities, 
and also to promote mutual serviceableness, and we 
should remove everything which can foster the dis- 
position to appraise oneself too highly, and to look down 
on others. Again, we cannot venture to say of boys, 
six years old what their ultimate destination may be. 
Further, he objects to the superstitious attachment to 
Latin — the vernacular tongue, modern tongues, and 
the study of things being more important. Even the 
Latin tongue itself will be better learned by one who 
knows his vernacular, and who has in learning a new 
language simply to adapt new names to things already 
known. In brief, the Vernacular School ought to 
teach all that will be of use for the whole of life, and 
this to all. 

■ Subjects of Instruction in the Vernacular or Primary 
School. 

i . Let the pupil learn to read all things in his own 
tongue, whether printed or script. 

2. Let him learn to write first neatly, then quickly, 
then with grammatical propriety, in accordance with, 
rules popularly expounded. 

3. Let him learn arithmetic as far as necessary. 

4. Let him learn to measure lengths, breadths, dis- 
tances. 

5. Let him learn to sing the more common melodies, 
those who have an aptitude for it being also taught the 
elements of harmony x (or notation ?) . 

1 Figuralis musica. 



THE VERNACULAR SCHOOL 145 

6. Let him learn by heart the psalms and hymns 
more commonly used in churches. 

7. Let him learn to repeat with accuracy the Cate- 
chism, and important passages from Holy Writ. 

8. Let him understand morality in its precepts, and 
by means of examples suited to his age, and let him 
begin the practice of it. 

9. Let him understand as much of economy and 
polity as is necessary for the understanding of what 
goes on around him. 

10. Let him not be ignorant of the general history 
of the world — its creation, fall and redemption, and 
its government by the wisdom of God. 

1 1 . Let him be taught general geography, and the 
geography of his own country more fully. 

12. A general knowledge of the mechanical arts 
should be given, that boys may better understand the 
affairs of ordinary life, and that opportunities be thus 
given to boys to find out their special aptitudes. 

The beginnings of all kinds of knowledge will thus 
be laid, whatever be the future destiny of the pupils. 

Means of attaining the above Ends. 

1. The school period being extended over six years, 
the school should be divided into six classes, kept 
apart from each other as much as possible. 

2. Bach class should have its own books, which 
should contain everything necessary for its instruction 
in Literature, Morals, and Religion. These books 
should exhaust the vernacular tongue, in so far as the 
naming of things within the range of a boy's apprehen- 



146 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

sion and all the more usual modes of speech, are con- 
cerned. There ought to be six such books, differing 
in their mode of treating subjects, not in the subjects 
they treat : advancing always from the more simple to 
the more special and detailed. They should be care- 
fully adapted to the age of the pupils, and should com- 
bine the pleasant with the useful. As a school has 
been compared to a garden, so the titles of these books 
might well be made attractive by reference to a garden 
1 — e. g., the first might be called Violarium, the second 
Rosarium, the third Viridarium, the fourth Labyrin- 
t/ius, the fifth BaJsamentum, and the sixth Paradisus 
Animae. 

3. The school-hours should not be more than four 
daily — two before noon and two after noon, — thus 
leaving time for amusement, and for domestic duties 
when the children are poor. 

4. The morning hours should be given to those 
lessons that exercise the understanding and memory, 
the afternoon to those which engage the voice and 
hand. 

5. In the morning hours, the teacher will read and 
re-read the lesson, giving simple explanations, while 
all listen attentively, and will then call on certain 
pupils, one after the other, to read, the rest attentively 
following. If the lesson is prolonged, the clever boys 
will be able to say it off by heart, and later on the 
slower boys also; for the tasks will be short, and 
suited to the capacity of the pupils. 

6 . In the afternoon nothing new should be attempted. 
The repetition of the morning lesson, transcription 



THE LATIN SCHOOL ^ 

from the printed book, and competition as to who re- 
members most accurately, or can sing, write, or count 
best. The neat transcription of the printed books is a 
most valuable exercise, for the lesson is thereby more 
thoroughly impressed on the mind through the occupa- 
tion of the senses with it, and practice in correct 
spelling and neat writing is given. The parents also 
learn from these books what their children are doing 

at school. 

In conclusion, Comenius recommends that if any 
boys desire to learn foreign tongues they should begin 
them after their tenth year, and during the latter part 
of their attendance at the Vernacular School. For 
teaching purposes, translations into the foreign lan- 
guages they are learning of those books which are 
already known to them in the vernacular tongue should 

be used. 

III. The Idea of the Latin School, 
or Gymnasium. 

In this school there should be an encyclopaedic 
course, including four languages. 

The course being a six years' one (frome twelve years 
of age to eighteen), there should also be six classes. 

The subjects to be taught are as follows—: 

Grammar, that is to say, a thorough knowledge of 
the vernacular and Latin, and such a knowledge of 
Greek and Hebrew as may be necessary. 

Dialectic, I.e., practice in defining, distinguishing, 
arguing, and in resolving arguments. 

Rhetoric, i. e., the power of elegant composition on 
any given matter. 



148 EDUCATIONAL SYSTKM OF COMENIUS 

Arithmetic. 

Geometry. 

Music, practical and theoretical. 

Astronomy. 

These are the boasted seven -liberal arts which make 
a man a master in philosophy. Comenius would have 
them taught in the Gymnasium, and, in addition, the 
following subjects: — 

Physics, including Natural History and Mineralogy, 
and applications to the arts. 

Geography. 

Chronology. 

History. 

Ethics, i. e., a knowledge of the virtues and vices, 
and of their special application to life. And, lastly, 

Theology, so that youths should have a thorough 
knowledge not only of the doctrines of their faith, but 
of the scriptural bases of them. 

It is not presumed that a thorough knowledge of all 
these subjects can be attained in the Gymnasium ; but 
only that a solid foundation may be laid in them all. 

To the six classes a separate name is assigned, 
indicating the order in which studies are to be taken 
up, viz., the Grammar class, the Physics class, the 
Mathematical class, the Ethical class, the Dialectic 
class, and the Rhetoric class. 

The Grammar class comes first as the key to all else. 
Then the Physics precedes the Mathematics, because 
the numbers and quantities dealt with in the former 
are more within the sphere of sense than they are in 
the latter. Mathematics is general and abstract. 



THE LATIN SCHOOL 149 

Ethics will not merely deal with the what of morality, 
as in the Vernacular School, but advance to the why. 
Dialectic will take up Physical and Ethical questions 
with a view to the pro and con: it will also include a 
short course of logic, and the principles of investigation, 
and sources of error. Rhetoric, or the art of fit and 
elegant expression, comes last, w T hen the youth has the 
necessary material for writing, and its range will be 
confined to very brief and very clear rhetorical precepts. 

It has to be remarked that in every class, History, 
as the eye of life, should find a place, so that all that is 
most memorable in the past, both in deed and word, 
may be known. This, so far from increasing the 
burden on pupils, will lighten their labors. Little text- 
books should be written, viz., one on Biblical history; 
one on natural things ; one on inventions and mechan- 
ical arts ; one exhibiting the most illustrious examples 
of virtue ; one on the various customs of nations ; and 
finally, one containing all that is most significant 
in the history of the world, and especially of our own 
country. 

It is to be taken for granted that Comenius, while 
defining the distinctive work of each class, presumes 
that the work done in the classes that precede it is 
still continued. Without this, how would a sufficient 
knowledge of language , for example , be obtained ? The 
Dialectic and Rhetoric classes would afford special 
opportunities for the revision of all the work done in 
the classes that preceded them. 

Comenius postpones the question of the special 
method to be followed in the Gymnasium, merely re- 



150 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

marking that, of the four school hours, the two before 
noon should be devoted to that subject by which the 
class is named, and the two afternoon hours to history 
and to exercises in writing and repeating. 

IV. The Idea of the University (Accidentia) . 

i Every department of knowledge should be handled 
in the Universities. There will be need, accordingly, 
of Professors, learned in all arts, sciences, faculties, 
tongues, and also of a library for common use. 

As to the method to be pursued : — 

i. Only the more select minds — the flower of 
youth — should be sent to Universities, all others being 
relegated to agriculture, the workshop, or trade. 

2 . Bach should apply himself to that line of study 
for which he is specially fitted, so that nothing may be 
done invito, Minerva. It would be well that the desti- 
nation of youth should be fixed by a leaving-examination 
in the Gymnasiums. 

3. Minds of large mould should be stimulated to 
universal knowledge, that there may be a certain 
number of men of universal accomplishment 7toXvnaBei<; 

Or Ttccvtocpoi. 

4. The University should retain only those students 
who are industrious, honorable, and able. Those 
pseudo -students, who go there to spend money and 
waste time, should not be tolerated. 

5 . Authors of every kind should be studied ; but as 
it is impossible for all to read everything that authors 
have written, men, learned each in his own depart- 
ment, should produce books which would contain, in a 



TH3 UNIVERSITY 151 

systematic form, the sum of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, 
Galen , etc . These systematized summaries woul d serve 
as an introduction for the use of those who were going 
to study these great writers, and furnish all that was 
necessary for those who had to devote themselves 
specially to other studies. 

6. Of academic exercises, a very important one is 
public disputations : the students discussing, at an 
afternoon meeting, what the Professor has given in a 
forenoon meeting, and contributing to the subject from 
their own reading, and suggesting questions, while the 
Professor acts as president. 

As regards Graduation: — 

University honors should be conferred only on the 
worthy, and it should depend on a public inquiry by 
commissioners, and not on private testimony, so that 
Doctorships and Masterships may be conferred only on 
those conspicuous for their diligent pursuit of learning. 
The qualifications of the candidates should be ascer- 
tained by public oral questioning in the theory and 
praxis of the subjects they have studied — e. g., Where 
is this, that, or the other passage to be found? How 
does it agree with this or that? Do you know any 
author who dissents from this view ? Who ? What 
arguments does he advance, and how are they to be 
met ? Again in praxis: cases are to be put — in con- 
science, or in medicine, or in legal causes ; the how 
and the why is to be put, and a variety of cases brought 
forward, so that it may be seen that the candidate has 
a thorough knowledge of his subject, and can judge 
wisely. 



152 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Travel with a view to education should be allowed 
only, as Plato says, when the hotness of youth is over, 
and the young man has acquired sufficient prudence 
and tact. 

So much for the University as a teaching body ; but 
in addition to all this there ought to be a Schola Scho- 
laram or Collegium Didacticum founded somewhere or 
other ; and if the foundation of such a college is im- 
possible, learned men in all parts of the world devoted 
to the advancement of God's glory, should combine to 
prosecute researches in science, and to make new 
discoveries bearing on the improvement of the human 
race. Neither one man nor one generation is sufficient 
for this great task ; many men jointly and in suc- 
cessive generations must carry on the work begun. 
Such a universal school would be to the rest of schools 
what the stomach is to the body — the living workshop, 
supplying sap, life, strength. 

Conclusion. 

Comenius in conclusion elaborates an analogy be- 
tween his method and the Art of Printing. As the 
Art of Printing is to the old method of producing 
copies of books, so is his method of education to the 
methods then in use. Into this parallel we need not 
follow him. A greater number of pupils, he maintains, 
will be taught with fewer teachers ; a larger proportion 
of pupils will be truly instructed ; and many who now 
receive no benefit from schools will receive substantial 
culture. As regards teachers, again, those who are 
not by nature adapted to the work of instruction will, 



CONCLUSION 153 

fay following sound method, acquire aptitude. As an 
organist can play from a book symphonies which he 
himself could not possibly have composed, so a school- 
teacher may learn to teach all subjects, if he have 
reduced into a schematic form, as it were, all the sub- 
jects that have to be taught, and the whole method of 
teaching them. 

I have now given the sum of the Great Didactic. 



PART II . 

METHOD IN THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE MORE 
FULLY CONSIDERED. 1 

The Didactica Mag?ia does not contain all that Co- 
menius has to say. In the prefaces to his various, 
works there are many sagacious observations both on 
Methods and on Kducation in general. These obser- 
vations apply chiefly to the teaching of language. 
School-instruction in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies was substantially language-instruction ; and the 
language chiefly, though not exclusively, taught was. 
Latin. It was unavoidable therefore that Comenius, 
in applying his principles and rules of Method, should 
have his attention largely concentrated on the teaching 
of Latin. Prior to Ratich, indeed, the general interest 
which had been excited throughout Europe in the 
subject of Education had for its object, so far as schools, 
were concerned, chiefly the current methods of teach- 
ing the Latin tongue. There was a widespread and 
loudly expressed dissatisfaction with the results of 
school-teaching. Boys and masters were alike unhappy 
—these as teachers, those as learners; great severity 
of discipline was practised, and after all was done, 

i From the Methodus Linguarum novissima fundamentis, 
didacticis solide superstructa, 1648. 

(154) 



METHOD OF TEACHING I^ATIN 155 

and all the years of youth had been spent in the study 
mainly of one subject, the results were contemptible. 
In i8i4Kilhardus!,ubinus, an eminent theologian who 
edited the Greek Testament in three languages, speaks 
in these words: — ' The customary method of instruc- 
tion prevalent in schools is, it seems to me, precisely 
what we might have expected had some one been 
specially hired and paid to excogitate some way where- 
by teachers might not introduce their pupils to a knowl- 
edge of Latin, and pupils might not be introduced, 
except with immense toil, unspeakable tedium, infinite 
loss, and the expenditure of a long period of time. 
' Quae quoties repeto vel iniqua mente revolvo 
Conctitior toties, penitusque horresco medullis. ' 

And again he remarks, ' When considering this matter 
I have, to speak the truth, been often led to think that 
some wicked and malign spirit — an enemy of the 
human race — had through the agency of some ill- 
omened monks originally introduced the method of 
instruction.' And with what result? — 'The produc- 
tion of Germanisms, Barbarisms, Solecisms, mere abor- 
tions of Latin, dishonorings and defilements of the 
tongue.' 

The most important, and indeed the only important, 
treatise by Comenius on Method, in addition to the 
Didactica Magna and the short treatise on the Mother 
School (the substance of which I have incorporated 
into the preceding analysis of the Didactica) , is en- 
titled ' Novissima Linguarum Methodus , firmly erected on 
Didactic foundations, demonstrated in special relation 
to the Latin Tongue, adapted with precision to the use 



156 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

of schools, but also capable of application with advan- 
tage to other kinds of Studies. ' This treatise was pub- 
lished in 1648. It consists of thirty chapters — the 
first five of which are occupied with the consideration 
of language itself, beginning, as is customary with the 
author, ab ovo, and approaching the question he has to 
solve in the most systematic manner. There is nothing 
in these chapters worth reproducing for our time. In- 
deed, it may almost be said that, like much of Come- 
nius's writing, they are characterized by a wearisome, 
elaborate, and painfully systematic statement of com- 
monplace. There is no penetrating light cast into 
any dark places. 

The subsequent chapters are more instructive. The 
principles laid down in the Didactica now reappear in 
more special and detailed application to Latin. They 
are, however, reached analytically, and no longer syn- 
cretically. 

Latin, Comenius maintains, is the one language to 
be preferred to all others for schools, because it is the 
vehicle not only of Roman, but of all, learning; be- 
cause it is the common language of the learned ; because 
it is an excellent introduction to the study of all 
tongues; and because, owing to the definiteness of its 
forms and syntax, it presents fewer difficulties than 
Greek. There is no special difficulty in learning Latin ; 
what we want is a good method. Lubinus remarks 
that cooks and scullions learn in a short time more of 
two or three modern tongues by mixing with the people 
who speak them than boys at school, after the greatest 
effort, learn of the one language Latin. 



METHOD OF TEACHING I.ATIN 157 

In proceeding to consider the method hitherto fol- 
lowed, Comenius indirectly answers Lubinus, for he 
points out that a language learned only conversa- 
tionally is imperfectly learned. When we have studied 
a language methodically in its forms and syntax, we 
then know that we know it ; any other mode of study 
yields us only more or less of the fragments of a 
language, and can at best give only a superficial 
knowledge. 

The evils which need a remedy are these: — 

i . The Latin language is taught abstractly, without 
a prior knowledge of the things which the words 
denote. 

It will be said that the boys already know in the 
vernacular the things which the Latin words denote. 
But it is a false conclusion that because boys know 
how to utter vernacular words they therefore under- 
stand them. How can it advantage a boy to get at 
vocabularies in which he finds such things as Neces- 
sitous, necessity ; Pignus, a pledge ; if he do not know 
what either ' necessity ' or ' a pledge ' means ? Words 
should be learned in their connection with things 
known. 

2. The second evil is driving boys into the manifold 
intricacies of grammar from the very first. 

It is the custom of schools to treat grammar from 
the formal instead of from the material side. This is 
to count money in purse without the money. It would 
be less absurd if a knowledge of the grammar of the 
vernacular had preceded the study of Latin, in which 
case a knowledge of the meaning of grammatical terms 



158 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

and rules in relation to the matter of language would 
already exist in the boy's mind ; but it has not yet, 
says Comenius, even been proposed to teach grammar 
in vernacular schools, and boys are plunged into the 
formal statements of grammar on their first beginning 
Latin, so that they must imagine that grammar belongs 
to Latin alone. To make matters worse, the Latin 
Grammar is written in Latin. How should we adults 
like, if we began to learn Arabic, to have a Grammar 
written in Arabic put into our hands ? And yet what 
we with our matured powers would resent, we demand 
of the tender minds of boys. Not to speak of the 
multitude and obscurity of the rules themselves, we 
ask boys to struggle first with the words of a rule, 
then with its sense, and finally with the genius of a 
tongue alien to their vernacular. 

3. The third evil is the practice of compelling boys 
to take impossible leaps, instead of carrying them for- , 
ward step by step. 

We introduce them from the grammar into Virgil 
and Cicero, — Virgil's Eclogues simply because they 
are short, and Cicero's select epistles — select being 
here also equivalent to short. The sublimity of poetic 
style is beyond the conception of boys, and the subject- 
matter of Cicero's epistles is for grown men. It will 
be said that this is done that boys may acquire the 
words, phrases, etc., of these authors, in the expecta- 
tion that when they are older they will see their force. 
But why ever separate words and things ? Unhappy 
divorce ! Why begin to build a tower at the top ? It 
will also be said that the object is to put a perfect 



METHOD OF TEACHING LATIN 159 

model before boys to which they may attain. Quite 
right to aim at a perfect model when the aim is prac- 
ticable, and if we proceed gradually to the highest. 
But a boy must go step by step, and advancing years 
will bring both the occasions and the power of learn- 
ing. If Cicero himself were to enter our schools, and 
find boys engaged with his works, it seems to me that 
he would be either amused or indignant . Larger thin gs 
are with great advantage postponed to lesser things, 
and the lesser things, if accommodated to the age of the 
learners, yield greater fruits than larger things. The 
eminent grammarian, Vossius, speaks (Lib. vii. Gram, i.) 
strongly against the folly of loading boys with a mass 
-of rules and exceptions, affirming that it is not merely 
useless, but hurtful and obstructive. The language of 
Scioppius , the annotator of the Sanctii Minerva , is stron- 
ger and more fervid in denunciation than that of any 
other writer . And when we bear in mind the construction 
of the Latin Grammars then in use, — that of Alvarus, 
for example, having 500 rules and as many exceptions, 
— we cannot be surprised at the unanimous condem- 
nation of the then current methods of teaching, and 
the almost universal lamentation over the wasted years 
of youth. 

Comenius gives some account of the various pro- 
posals for reform current in his time. It was natural 
that many should be driven to the conversational 
method as a means of attaining a knowledge of Latin 
in the intercourse of daily life. Schoolmasters were 
tyrants and torturers of boys , and the instrument of 
their tyranny was the Latin Grammar. Csecilius Frey, 



160 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

on the same side of the question, proposed the institu- 
tion of Colleges, where all, including the servants, 
should speak Latin and Greek. To these, boys might 
be sent in their second year, and while not neglecting 
their mother-tongue, acquire a free use of Latin and 
Greek in conversation, during their play and at their 
meals. He supported his scheme by the success which 
had attended this method in the case of Montaigne, 
who when six years old could speak Latin better than 
his native French. On the otner hand, Melanchthon,, 
the restorer ot letters in Germany, and an ardent school 
reformer {Praeceptor Germaniae, as he was called) y 
strongly advocates grammatical instruction, and in- 
veighs vehemently against those who would propose: 
to teach by practice alone without syntactical precepts. 
He calls this method a confused kind of procedure, by 
which it is not possible to obtain sound learning. He 
considers that those who counsel such a method are 
the worst friends of youth, and that they recommend 
what is not only pernicious in its effects while the: 
pupils are still boys, but hurtful to them throughout, 
life. A contempt for grammatical precepts will en- 
gender a similar contempt for the groundwork of other 
arts, and sap the foundations of that reverence which, 
is the support of private and public morals. He 
considers that ' penalties ought to be inflicted by the 
State on those teachers who despise grammatical rules.* 
The eminent Lipsius deplores the years, from ten to. 
thirteen, which he spent over grammatical trifles, and 
thinks that the time would be better spent in reading, 
and in obtaining a knowledge of things. Caseliusalsa 



METHOD OF TEACHING I^ATIN 161 

advocated the reading of authors, and constant exercises 
in writing Latin. Ratich, Comenius's distinguished 
predecessor in the work of Educational Reform, was 
of Caselius's opinion, but his method was to put an 
author level with a boy's capacity into a pupil's hands 
at once — such an author as Terence — to get him to 
read and re-read the Latin, in the expectation that 
with some explanation by the master he would begin 
gradually to understand. At the third reading only 
should exercises in declining and conjugating be given, 
and this not in accordance with rules, but merely 
referring from time to time to types of declensions 
and conjugations. At the fourth reading the syntax 
and phraseology generally should be taken up and 
taught by the master, but all from the author him- 
self. The master according to this method does al- 
most everything, the pupils being to a great extent 
passive. Ratich had many followers, and some keen 
opponents. 

Lubinus desired some compendious way, and ad- 
vocated the construction of a book containing pictures 
of things, with a certain number of brief sentences 
attached to each, till all the words and phrases of 
Latin were exhausted. These, he said, should be ex- 
plained in order, and committed to memory. 

But the most important attempt, in Comenius's 
opinion (as I have elsewhere stated), was that made 
by an Irishman — a Jesuit father in the Anglican 
seminary at Salamanca, to which reference has been 
already made. This man, in conversation with some 
Englishmen, members of an embassy to Spain, when 



162 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIt/S 

asked how a man might learn the Spanish language 
quickly, commended his own method for learning Latin. 
He had printed a book in which Latin words with a 
Spanish translation were arranged in complete sen- 
tences, in such a way (the same words never being re- 
peated) that any one learning these sentences would 
know the foundations of the Latin tongue. This con- 
versation took place in 1605, and the book itself was 
afterwards published in England with an English and 
French version, and was reproduced in Germany with 
the addition of a German version by Isaac Habrecht. 
The celebrated Scioppius published a Latin-Italian 
edition; and afterwards, in 1636, at Basel, an edition 
in Latin-German-Greek-Hebrew appeared. 

In 1628, says Comenius, when meditating on the 
subject of a Latin first book, and having already come 
to the conclusion that words and things were best 
learned together, ' I planned a book in which all things, 
the properties of things, and actions and passions of 
things, should be presented, and to each should be as- 
signed its own proper work, believing that in one and 
the same book the whole connected series of things 
might be surveyed historically, and the whole fabric of 
things and words reduced to- one continuous context. 
On mentioning my purpose to some friends, one of 
them directed my attention to the Jesuit father's 
Janua Linguarum, and gave me a copy. I leapt with 
joy; but on examination, I found that it did not fulfil 
my plan. 

In 1 63 1 Comenius issued his Janua Lingua Latinae 
Reserata, which was cordially received, and found its 



METHOD OF TEACHING LATIN 163 

way by translation into most European, and some 
Asiatic, languages. A short experience of the book 
satisfied him that an introduction to it was needed, 
and he then published a Vestibulum in 1632. The idea 
and plan of the Palatium and Thesaurus 1 (as men- 
tioned in the Didacticd) followed in due course. 

The Method. 

It appears that many teachers, believing that there 
was some hidden virtue in the Ja?iua of Comenius, had 
used it without discretion, and had consequently been 
disappointed in the results. Comenius points out that 
while a good text-book is always essential to the 
teacher, the expected fruits can be gathered only by 
the application of good method. 

The desideratum which method supplies is a simple 
and short way to the knowledge of a language. So 
far as words are concerned, this way is through things. 
Words are only the ministers of things, and if we study 
the former through the latter, we shall find one of the 
first conditions of good method satisfied. Hence the 
text-books published by Comenius which have been so 
frequently referred to, and which will be described in 
our next chapter. 

But this is not all : the teacher must not only see 
that the pre-conditions of a good method are satisfied ; 
but he must himself follow a sound method in teaching. 
What is that method ? It is already laid down in the 
Great Didactic syncretically, i. <?., worked out by com- 
parison with something else, viz., Nature. ButCome- 
1 Called sometimes Atrium and Palatium. 



164 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

nius, never weary of his task, takes up the question 
afresh, and now deals with it analytically. He asks 
the question, ' What is it to teach? ' and answers, ' To 
make another learn and know what the teacher already 
knows.' To do this with art, is to follow certain de- 
fined paths in teaching which will insure that acquisition 
is quick, easy, and solid. He then asks ' what it 
is to learn,' and answers, 'To advance to the knowl- 
edge of the unknown through the known . ' From this an- 
alytic statement he deduces, under the head of General 
Didactic, eighty propositions in thoroughly scholastic 
style, and with not a little of the scholastic poverty 
of genuine substance. It would be a waste of time 
to go through these in detail, as all that is really 
valuable has been already exhibited in the Great Di- 
dactic. Souse of his propositions, however, are worth 
quoting : — 

Where nothing is taught, nothing is learned. 
Where the teaching is confused, the learning is 
confused. 

Where the teaching is negligent, the learning is 
negligent. 

Do not begin to teach any one who is unprepared 
for the teaching. 

Do not put off teaching one who is prepared. 

Labor is for the learner ; for the teacher, direction 
of the learners. 

All things are to be taught by the threefold way of 
Examples, Precepts, and Exercises. 



METHOD OF TEACHING LATIN 165 

Let the example always come first, the precept next, 
and let the imitation by way of exercise follow close. 

Let rules be short, clear, and true. 

Discipline is the means used to press on learning. 

Without discipline nothing is learned, or at least 
nothing rightly. 

Discipline must be a never-ceasing constant pres- 
sure ; never violent ; and always graduated, so as to 
be fitted to its end, corporal chastisement being the 
final resort. 

To learn is easier than to unlearn. 

To teach is easier than to un teach, for the latter is a 
double process, the former a single one. 

In teaching we have to advance from few things to 
many, from the brief to the more lengthened, from the 
simple to the complex, from the general to the special, 
from the near to the remote, from the regular to the 
irregular. 

Comenius passes from General Didactic to Special 
Didactic, applying the general principles which he has 
laid down to the method of instruction in Science 
(which is knowledge generally), in Arts, and finally, 
in Language , and to the general improvement of schools , 
traversing necessarily much of the ground already 
traversed in the Great Didactic. 

In dealing with Science, he gives prominence to the 
dictum, Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius in sensu. 
The senses are the primary and the constant guides 
of knowledge. They are the sole solid foundations of 
knowledge. Wherever it is possible, therefore, all 
teaching should refer back to this ultimate basis of 



166 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

sense. We must see that the thing represented is 
understood. To know the difference of things is to 
know things. 

As to Memory : To this there is necessary, first, a 
clear, firm, and true impression on the senses ; secondly, 
the understanding of what is presented. Words by 
themselves, if capable of no order or coherence that 
can engage the understanding, are not to be committed 
to memory, e. g. } the vocables anima, esse, res, ordo, 
difficult to remember if so learned, are easily remem- 
bered thus, Ordo est anima renim. Writing is a 
great aid to memory. Repetitio memoriae pater et 
mater est. 

Comenius, when he comes to Language, explains 
that it is more difficult to acquire language than to 
learn any one department of knowledge or science; 
and this because it is co-extensive with all know- 
able things. Here he gives some preliminary direc- 
tions: e. g. — 

The teacher is not to teach as much as he is com- 
petent to teach, but only as much as the learner can 
take in. 

Examples rather than precepts or rules are to be 
preferred in the earlier stages of teaching. 

The teacher has to exercise patience, as everything 
must go slowly with beginners. 

A teacher who is learned in his department, and of 
quick parts, is apt to lose his temper: he should re- 
member that his business is not to transform minds, 
but to inform them. 

The questions of the Great Didactic are now re- 



METHOD OF TEACHING LATIN 167 

peated:— -How is language to be learnt quickly, pleas- 
antly, solidly? And the general answer is, Quickly, 
by. constant familiarizing with examples; pleasantly, 
by giving clear precepts ; solidly, by continual prac- 
tice ; and all these objects are attained generally by 
following good method. That is to say:' — 

To insure Quickness — Clearly lay down the end at 
which you aim, and neglect all that does not bear on 
that end ; keep to one example and one explanation of 
it, relying on practice for all else : advance by gradual 
steps, never per saltum: remember that steady, con- 
tinuous progress is notable progress ; therefore, no day 
without a line, no hour without its task : leave nothing 
undone when once begun. 

To insure Pleasantness. — The secret of a pleasant 
process lies in the handling of the minds of the young 
in accordance with nature. To do otherwise is to 
struggle against nature. Everything should be done 
with paternal affection, all moroseness being banished. 
Brevity, order, definiteness, should characterize the 
substance of our teaching. The senses must be always 
appealed to when possible. As human nature rejoices 
in doing, everything should be learned through its own 
praxis. The utility and bearing of what is learned 
should be made manifest. Teaching should be tem- 
pered with an agreeable variety , and the playful element 
admitted. The rivalry and emulation of free games 
should be encouraged in lessons: Quidquid iyi ludo 
liter ario, lusus ingenii sit. 

To insure Solidity. — The leading principle here is 
that we teach the young solid truth, and what will be 



168 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

of solid use, avoiding frivolous things, and indeed 
everything the truth and utility of which are not patent. 
Let our examples be very select, placing the thing to 
be learned distinctly before the eyes, so that every 
part of it be seen: let the rules be few, brief, clear: 
let exercises be appended sufficient in number to bring 
the example and rule clearly out, as without these a 
vague idea leads to vague and uncertain imitation. 
Let the first foundations be solidly laid ; the beginnings 
of things are the most important ; they should be 
taught slowly and accurately. By precipitancy every- 
thing is destroyed. Let everything therefore be rightly 
apprehended in its beginning, and secure this by ex- 
amination. The foundations being solidly laid, pro- 
ceed cautiously with the superstructure. Let nothing 
be laid on the top of foundations not yet firmly settled. 
Non multa sed multum. Those who sow much and 
plough little, lose much and reap little. Minus serere 
et melius arare satius est. Bring all the senses into 
requisition wherever possible . Above all , the examples 
and rules being given, give continual practice. Let 
repetitions and examinations be constant. Let the 
pupils be required to teach what they have acquired. 
Comenius presses the great importance of this : Tanto 
qicis erit doctior, quanto docuerit frequentius. Fortius 
says, Multa ego didici a preceptoribus meis, sed plura a 
co?idiscipulis ; a discipulis autem plurima. 

Comenius continues to enforce these principles, es- 
pecially pressing the importance of graded books with 
only as much of the grammar or formal part of lan- 
guage as is necessary to the understanding of them, 



METHOD OF TEACHING I.ATIN 169 

and with suitable lexicons attached. He points out 
the importance of giving the pupil root- words and the 
formation of their derivatives so as to give a stock of 
vocables. He recurs frequently to the proposition, 
which with him is vital, that a language is to be 
learned through things, and that the text which treats 
of things shall be the source out of which all language- 
knowledge shall be drawn ; the grammar and lexicon, 
even in their graded and modified forms, being merely 
subsidiary. This leads him to the description of the 
principles on which his own school-books were con- 
structed. 

Without books artificially constructed it is evident 
that Comenius's method could not be carried out; 
these books present, according to him, a sure, short, 
and pleasant mode of access to all Latin authors. 
The same things are treated of in each, but at each 
successive stage in more advanced form — the Vesti- 
bulum giving only the simplest sentences, comprising 
primitive and root-words, and only the ordinary regu- 
lar inflections and rules ; the Janua introducing to the 
full grammatical structure and body of the language, 
and the Atrium introducing to phrases, idioms, and 
elegancies ; all these taken together constituting, as the 
initial letters of these various books indicate, a Via to 
authors. The best instruments, however, are useless 
without a good method of teaching, and a teacher who 
is not only skilled in his art, but ' greedy of teaching : ' 
if any other shall take up the work, he will prostitute 
both himself and his art. 

Following the above method, and using text-books 



170 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

such as those compiled by the author, the pupil 
is brought within the Palace of Latin Authors. He 
has been already furnished with all the words necessary 
to enable him to enter with advantage on the study of 
those which treat of Realia, such as Pliny in Natural 
Science, Vitruvius in Architecture ; in Medicine, Cel- 
sus; in Economics, Varro and Columella, etc. But 
with a view to phrases and the daily forms of speech, 
and oratorical and poetical language, he must study 
other authors, or rather portions of them. For this, 
the first requirement is a lexicon. Again, whatever 
author is read, the Grammar should never be absent : 
if the author is in one hand, the Grammar should be in 
the other, as Erasmus recommends. 

To acquire a thorough knowledge of Latin, and the 
power of writing it purely and elegantly, the method is 
threefold, viz., by Analysis ■, by Excerpts, and by Imi- 
tation. 

i. Analysis. — The object of this is accurate trans- 
lation into the vernacular. First, by close attention 
ascertain the purport of the passage before you ; then 
examine closely the way in which the author attains his 
end, what words he uses, what phrases, what argu- 
ments, what sentences, how these are arranged, until 
you have, as it were, rearticulated the text. Super- 
ficial study is of little value. 

2. Excerption. — Transfer into a repertory or diary 
all words, phrases, and opinions, etc., which strike 
you. 

3. Imitation. — This has three stages: First, -Meter- 
phrasis, i.e., turning an author into the vernacular, and 



MKTHOD OF TEACHING LATIN 171 

after some days retranslating him into Latin, compar- 
ing the result with the original, and making the re- 
quisite corrections. Secondly, Turning the Latin into 
Latin, thus : take the words in confused order, and try 
to write them correctly ; or, abridge the text ; or, am- 
plify it by the insertion of additional words in the form 
of epithets, phrases, or sentences. Thirdly, Imitation 
proper: attempt, in the form of a familiar epistle or 
otherwise, to write in the style of the author who has 
been selected for imitation, on a subject of present im- 
portance but similar to that treated of by the Latin 
author, comparing our production with that of the 
classic selected for imitation, until we have so trans- 
formed ourselves into him, e. g., Cicero, that nothing 
will be agreeable to our ears which has not a Cicero- 
nian sound. 

In following these practical directions we must take 
care to keep to one author as our model, and to practise 
daily. The exercises should also be graduated in diffi- 
culty : in retranslating into Latin, for example, the 
work should at first be done immediately after reading 
the passage, and, after a little practice, at longer in- 
tervals. 

With a view to promote the universal and ready 
acquisition of Latin, Comenius again suggests, as part 
of his method, the institution of schools which would 
be 'Roman cities,' and where nothing but Latin should 
be spoken or heard. 

He further points out how, by the adoption of his 
method, the learning of many languages would be fa- 
cilitated, for not only would the same method be fol- 



172 EDUCATIONAL SYSTKM OF COMKNIUS 

lowed, but the same sequence of initiatory books in a 
parallel series. The Grammars of the various lan- 
guages also would be constructed on the same lines as 
the Latin grammar in so far as the languages were 
common. 

After showing that the method of studying language 
is applicable, mutatis mutandis, to all arts and sciences, 
and recommending the construction of systematic com- 
pendiums of all things on the ascending scale of his 
Latin text-books (e.g., in. Philosophy a Vestibulum, 
then a Janua, and then an Atrium), Comenius pro- 
ceeds to show the influence which his method would 
exercise in improving the internal condition of schools, 
in promoting learning and a genuine, thorough and 
widespread acquisition of the Latin tongue, in attract- 
ing the learned to the study of things instead of words; 
and concludes with an appeal to theologians and to the 
secular powers. 



PART III. 

COMENIUS'S TEXT-BOOKS AND THE WAY OF 
USING THEM. 

In the writing of text-books Comenius had his prede- 
cessors. The method of Lubinus, which I have briefly 
explained on page 154, approximates very closely to 
that of Comenius, while the Janua of the Jesuit father 
must have supplied a valuable repertory of words and 
phrases. 

It is to mistake Comenius 's plan to say that his 
object was to arrange all the more common words of 
the Latin tongue in a series of sentences, with a view 
to exhaust all the ordinary vocabulary. He wishes to 
attain this end certainly, but through things. He con- 
siders that if he can conceive a course of elementary 
lessons on things in general, he will necessarily call 
into requisition all the usual vocabulary of Latin, and 
so teach Latin through things. This is in accordance 
with his great pansophic idea. 

The VestibuIvUM. 

First Edition. 

This Latin Primer, though published subsequently 
to the Janua, comes first in order. It is an introduc- 
tion to the Janua, and, for this reason, Comenius de- 

(173) 



174 TKXT BOOKS OF COME)NIUS 

parted from his first intention of making it a series of 
simple colloquies. Upwards of iooo Latin words were 
selected and reduced to short sentences, all of them 
dealing with things and their properties. These were 
thrown into seven chapters comprising 427 sentences. 
The chapters are thus entitled : — 

1. Concerni?ig the accidents or qualities of things ; no 
verbs being used save the substantive verb, e. g. , ' Deus 
est aeternus ; mundus temporarius Color est multi- 
plex : creta alba, tabula nigra, cinnabaris rubra. Mel 
est dulce, sal salsum. Ossa dura, caro mollis, glacies 
lubrica,' and so forth, over sixty-two propositions. 

2. Concerning the actions and passions of things — 
e. g., ' Sol lucet, luna splendet, stellae micant. Ignis 
ardet, flamma flagrat. Herba crescit, folium viret, flos 
floret. ' In this way he runs through the most obvious 
facts concerning things in the heavens ; the elements ; 
man's body {e. g., caput repletur cerebro, tegiturque 
capillis, excepto vultu); the mind, diseased conditions, 
the different trades, etc. 

3. The third chapter treats of the circumstances of 
things, and this enables the author to introduce ad- 
verbs, prepositions, and numerals. For example: 
* Ubi fuisti? unde redis? Ex oppido. Cum nobis 
ducimus, ante nos pellimus, a nobis trudimus:' 

4. The fourth chapter treats of the things in school. 
For example : ' Atramentum est in atramentario : ca- 
lami in calamario; quibus scribimus in charta,' etc. 

5. The fifth chapter treat of things at home. 

6. Concerning thi?igs i7i the city. 

7. Co?icerning the Virtues. 



VKSTIBULUM 175 

The rule followed is the opposite of that now almost 
universal in elementary books ; words are never re- 
peated if it be possible to avoid repetition. 

The German is given in parallel columns, and the 
pupil is required to read the German first, and then the 
Latin. The lesson said in the morning is always to be 
written in "the afternoon. After going several times 
through the book, the pupil learns it off by heart, so 
many sentences each day. Along with the reading, 
the declension and conjugation of the words proceeds ; 
first, nouns by themselves, then nouns with adjectives. 
Tables of the declensions and conjugations are ap- 
pended, to which reference is constantly to be made. 
In declining, the terminations of the cases are not to 
be said by heart, but to be first learned by practice, 
the teacher giving the vernacular first: e.g., nubes — what 
is of a cloud ? what is to ox for a cloud? and so on, the 
boy referring to his tables. After this has been done 
several times, the tables are quickly and easily com- 
mitted to memory. Thus the boy who has properly 
mastered this Latin Primer, will have acquired iooo 
vocables, and a knowledge of the regular declensions 
and conjugations. 

In the Dissertatio de sermonis Lati?ii studio he enters 
even more into detail ; the Vestibulum, he says, is first 
to be read and written out for the sake of the Latin 
words only, without translation. The pupil is then to 
begin it over again and translate, first, the vernacular 
into the Latin, and thereafter the Latin into the ver- 
nacular. Some knowledge of the parts of speech is to 
be obtained, but parsing is not to be pressed. The 



176 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

chief things are the easy reading and writing, and the 
thorough acquisition of the words. The vernacular 
version is to be prefixed to each separate sentence. 
(Later the author was content with a vernacular version 
printed by itself, but as one book with the Latin) . In 
all cases the vernacular is to be first learned. The 
index at the end of the Vestibulum is to be used in this. 
way : a word is to be given, and the sentence, or series, 
of words in the text where it is found, is then to be. 
given by the pupil from memory. The writing of the 
morning's lessons at the afternoon meetings is con- 
stantly insisted on by Comenius, because this exercise,, 
by engaging the senses, fixes the exercise in the minds, 
of the pupils . The learning of the tables of declensions, 
is to be begun only at the fourth reading of the text- 
book. Comenius assumes that the text-book will be 
perused ten times, and in this way thoroughly got by 
heart. Before leaving it, exercises were to be given 
in translating into Latin fresh sentences more or less. 
connected, composed of the words in the Vestibulum 
and its index. 

Second Edition, 

I have been thus particular in describing the first 
edition of the Vestibulum , and the mode of using it, 
because all the principles of Comenius 's method of 
procedure are exemplified in it, in so far as these can 
be embodied in a text-book, and because it exhibits, 
the plan of his other books. 

In the second edition of the Vestibulum (published, 
or at least written, between 1650 and 1654, during his 



VKSTIBULUM 177 

school experience in Hungary) the plan is altered. 
Comenius had made up his mind that, as children, 
when learning to speak, used words before they made 
sentences, so the Vestibulum should consist of lists of 
words only, with this condition, that there should be 
a coherence between the words of a group, thus : — 

57. Elementa — Ignis, aer, aqua, terra. 

58. In aethere — Sidera. 

A quibus veniunt — Calor ', frigus; aestus, gelu. 

59. Sidera sunt — Sol, luna, Stella. 

60. In sole sunt — Lux, radius, lumen. 

Sine lumine est — Umbra, caligo, tenebrae. 

61. Ab igne venit — Flamma, scintilla, fumus, et 

fuligo. 
And so on, selecting associated words, and, as much as 
possible, primitive words, under 500 classes of things. 
The words are in number about 5000. The boy who 
had got up the whole thoroughly would accordingly 
possess some 5000 vocables, besides the outlines of 
Latin accidence. A broader basis was thus laid for 
that encyclopaedic knowledge of things, and of words 
through things, than could otherwise be done. 1 

Mode of using the Vestibulum. — The object is to pre- 
pare for the Janua. The class using the book must be 
able to write fluently, as well as to read articulately, 
Latin words, whether in print or MS. They will learn 
by heart the words of the Latin tongue given in their 
text-book, with the translation of them, and acquire 

I- We get hints as to the use of this I^atin Primer from Comen- 
ius 's letter to the teacher of the Vestibulary class at Patak, also, 
from L>e Uesttbulart Jtvaxts. etc. 



178 TKXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

perfect familiarity with the regular declensions and 
conjugations. The vernacular of the Latin is to be 
prefixed to the school editions of the book, and this is 
to be first read and learned, and thereafter the Latin. 
In this way the words which introduce to the elements 
of encyclopaedic knowledge will be first known in their 
relation to things, and then the Latin words in relation 
to the vernacular, the pupil thus going from the known 
to the unknown. Two months should be spent in 
thoroughly understanding and acquiring the vernacular 
text, in fact in learning it by heart, before entering on 
the Latin equivalent. The Latin text is then to occupy 
four months . The teacher is always to read and explain 
beforehand what his pupils are afterwards to read and 
explain, and to be careful that no lesson is passed from 
till it is thoroughly acquired. The pupils are then to 
write the exercise in a book and to conclude with saying 
it by heart. The outlines of Latin grammar are given 
in Latin, but they are to be carefully translated and 
understood before being learned. Three months are 
presumed to suffice for learning the grammar. The 
directions given have simply reference to the thorough 
acquisition of the forms. They are to be learned by 
heart, but above all, questions are to be asked in every 
possible way, and these questions are to be put in Latin. 
Little sentences are to be constructed, illustrating the 
cases, tenses, etc., etc., and after all this is done the 
text of the Vestibulum is to be again gone over and 
parsed. The Lexicon, which is simply a list of words 
with number-references to the part of the text in which 
they may be found , is finally to be read over — chiefly 



VESTIBULUM 179 

to test the pupil's knowledge of the meaning of all the 
words he is presumed now to have acquired. 

In his Ventilabrum Sapientiae he expresses a desire 
that the Vestibulum should be thrown into a dialogue 
form, that the vernacular of the Latin rules should be 
printed in parallel columns, and that pictures of the 
things named should be introduced. 

In 1657 Comenius published an addition to the last 
edition of the Vesiibuliim , in which the primitive words 
already used, and many others, were worked up into 
short simple sentences. This book (called the Auc- 
tarium) was intended to serve as a revision of the work 
done in the Vestibulum, to initiate into the construction 
of sentences, and to serve as a bridge to the Janua. 
But it was distinguished from the Vestibulum in this 
respect, that whereas the latter was an arrangement of 
words under the head of Things (classified) , the former 
was alphabetically arranged — was in fact a lexicon 
thrown into simple sentences — e. g., under B we have 
such sentences as these : Baccas fert laurus, non betula, 
vel butus. Bellua maxima, in sylvis est barrus, in 
aquis balaena ; and so forth. The title of the book was 
Parvulis parvulus, omnibus omnia. Hoc est, Vestibuli 
Latinae linguae Auctarium; voces Latinas primitivas 
construi coeptas etin sententiolas breves redactas exhibens. 
In praeludium Sylvam Latinam ingressgris datam, i. e. 
'A little book for little ones, all things for all : that is 
to say, a Supplement to the Vestibule of the Latin 
tongue, exhibiting Latin primitive words in construc- 
tion, and thrown into brief little sentences, given as a 
prelude to those about to enter the Latin Forest' — the 



180 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

' Forest ' being the collection of 1+atin words which 
formed the introduction to the last edition of the 
Janua. 

An accident led him to construct the Auctarium. 
When in Amsterdam in 1656 he had his attention 
directed to an edition of the Janua , published in 
England with additions — those additions professing to 
give the roots of the Latin tongue woven into sen- 
tences. He found that this addition departed in almost 
every respect from the principles of his books, and 
was of a kind to disgust rather than to attract boys. 
The idea, however, pleased him, and he set himself to 
construct the supplement to the Vestibulum under the 
title above given. It is to be used as a revisal of the 
Vestibulum and a bridge to the Janua . It was published 
in 1657. 

The Janua Lingua Latins reserata. 

First Edition. 

The full title of this famous book is The Gate oj 
Languages Unlocked, or the Seminary oj all Languages 
a?id Sciences : that is, a compendious method of learn- 
ing L,atin or any other tongue, along with the elements 
of all the Sciences and Arts, comprehended under a 
hundred chapter-headings and in a thousand sentences ; 
first published in the year 1 63 1 . 

The one thousand sentences again comprehend eight 
thousand different words in all. The sentences are at 
first simple, and thereafter compound and complex. 
After an introduction he begins, according to his pan- 
Sophie or encyclopaedic plan, with the origin of the 



JANUA UNGUARUM 181 

world, and in the course of his lessons takes a survey 
of all nature, and even includes morals and religion. 
It frequently happens, however, that a chapter is 
introduced for the sake of the words, not of the things 
taught: for example, the chapter on Ulcers and 
Wounds. The easiest sentences are of this fashion, 
' Deus omnia creavit ex nihilo . ' The more difficult are 
exemplified by the following, ' Incendium ex quavis 
scintilla, si permittis, oritur. Nam quidquid ignem 
concipit, id primum gliscit, dein ardet, turn flagrat et 
flammat; postremo, crematum redigitur in favillas et 
cineres.' 

Carrying out his expressed aim, Comenius en- 
deavors throughout to give equal attention to both 
things and words, but it is things that give the cue. 
The headings of some of his chapters will convey some 
idea of the scope of his writing: — Concerning the 
Origin of the World. Concerning the Elements. Con- 
cerning the Firmament, Fire, Meteors, Waters, Earths, 
Stones, Metals, Trees and Fruits, Herbs, Shrubs. 
These things are treated of in thirteen chapters and 
one hundred and forty-one sentences. Then we have 
' Concerning Animals,' which, under different subdivi- 
sions, occupies the book to the nineteenth chapter 
inclusive. Then, Concerning Man : his Body; External 
Members; Internal Members; the qualities or acci- 
dents of the Body ; Diseases ; Ulcers and Wounds ; 
the External Senses ; the Internal Senses : Mind ; the 
Will and the Affections : these occupy the book to the 
twenty -ninth chapter inclusive. All the mechanic arts 
now follow, and are concluded in the forty-eighth 



182 TKXT BOOKS OF COMBNIUS 

chapter and 539th sentence. The rest of the book 
treats of the House and its parts : Marriage and the 
Family, in which occur statements which are very 
curious as showing the freedom with which things were 
spoken about to the young of 250 years ago. Nex: 
follow Civic and State Economy, including a descrip- 
tion of officers and institutions. The seventieth chap- 
ter begins with Grammar, and goes on to Dialectic, 
Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, and all branches of 
knowledge, briefly describing what these are. In the 
eighty-second chapter Kthics is introduced, and twelve 
chapters are assigned to twelve virtues. Games, Death, 
Burial, the Providence of God and Angels, form the 
subjects of the concluding chapters. This is encyclo- 
psedism. 

The German equivalent ran in parallel columns, and 
was to be read first. 

Comenius thus, with great labor and no small 
ingenuity, gives effect to his own conceptions of the 
substance of school-instruction and the method of 
teaching languages at one and the same time. The 
reader will at once see that the lines on which the 
Janua are constructed are precisely the same as those 
on which the Vestibulum is laid down, and the follow- 
ing higher-class text-book {Atrium) again repeats (as 
will shortly be seen) the substance of the Janua in a 
still more developed and extended form. A brief 
grammatical Appendix and Lexicon was to be added 
to the/anua, but I have not met with these except in 
connection with the new edition, of which I will now 
speak. 



JANUA UNGUARUM 183 

Second Edition. 

The improved form of the Janua was published be- 
tween 1650-54, during his school experience in Hun- 
gary, though substantially written at Elbing before 1650. 
It is on the same lines as the first edition, but much 
more elaborate and more difficult. In the fifteenth 
chapter of the Novissima Linguarum Methodus he partly 
explains the change made. He has discarded the re- 
striction he had previously imposed on himself, of not 
repeating words: this he calls a superstition. The 
greater latitude thus allowed enables him to write about 
* things ' more fully and freely . The Lexicon , or Forest 
of Words (Sylva Verbornni), strange to say (and con- 
trary to his original plan), 1 comes first, and aims at 
being etymological throughout. Moreover, it is Latin- 
Latin and not Latin-vernacular . He intends this Lexicon 
to be first gone over, then the Grammar which follows, 
and finally the Janua itself. As to a vernacular- Latin 
Lexicon, he thinks that boys should construct that for 
themselves. Again, whereas it was thought desirable 
that the vernacular should accompany, nay, precede, the 
Latin in the original Janua, the former is now dis- 
carded. The reasons for beginning with the Lexicon, 
and then proceeding to the Grammar and thereafter to 
the text of the Janua, curiously illustrate the fanciful - 
ness of the author's mind. ' When we want to build a 
[wooden] house we first go to the wood and cut down 
trees (this is the Lexicon of words); then we shape 
and fit the wood cut down (this is the Grammar); and 

1 But in accordance with the plan of the second edition of the 

Vestibulum. 



184 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

it is only then we proceed to build the house (/. <?., to 
give continuous narrative).' The practical result is 
that the pupil has to go through lists of vocables which 
would fill two hundred octavo pages, and then a Gram- 
mar which would fill fifty, before he begins the text- 
book itself. The text itself is composed of one hundred 
short treatises about everything on the earth, in the 
earth and above the earth, including an account of man, 
and brief statements of morals and theology. It is, in 
short, an encyclopaedia, arranged not alphabetically, 
but in a natural order, and would fill 250 pages of an 
ordinary school-book. Comenius apologizes, indeed, 
for not introducing everything about everything ; the 
state of knowledge, he regrets, does not admit of it. 
The vocables of the Lexicon are not by any means ex- 
hausted in the text, but all the words in the text, are 
understood to be found in the Lexicon; but when 
the boy finds them there, which he very often will 
not, he is presented with their significations in Latin 
only ! 

I shall give here a specimen of his lessons, taking 
the beginning of his eighteenth lesson, 

Quadrupeda: primum, mansueta pecora et jumenta. 

Quadrupes quid, 161: partes illius essentiales, 162: 
genera, 163: pecora majora, 164: et minora, 165, 
6, 7, 8: jumenta, 169: Canes, feles, mures, 170, 
71, 72. 



161. Quadrupeda progenerant foetum vivum, alunt- 
que lacte uberum : grandiora unicum et rarius, minu- 
tiora plures et frequentius. 



JANUA LINGUARUM 185 

162. Pro integumento habent vel pilos vel villos vel 
lanam vel setas vel squamas ; pedes autem vel digi- 
tatos armatos unguibus (ut Canis, etc.,) vel ungu- 
latos : et quidem ungulave solid a (ut equus) vel bifida 
{ut bos). 

And so on through twelve paragraphs. 

It is quite clear that Comenius, under the influence 
of some fantastic notions of consistency developed in 
his Novissima Metjiodus, has deserted nearly all that 
is most characteristic and original in his system, ex- 
cepting his encyclopsedism. Of this he never loses 
sight. 

Mode of using the Janua. 1 — The Lexicon, or words, 
come first, then the Grammar, which teaches how to 
weave these words into speech, and then the text of 
the Janua, which lays the foundations, in a series 
•of lessons, of all knowledge. Comenius defends this 
order, as I have said, on the ground that words are the 
rudiments of speech, and that the materials of house- 
building must be supplied before we begin to build a 
house. The boys accordingly are first to read with the 
master the words and their derivatives, asset down in 
the Lexicon, as often as may be necessary, then take 
their pens and transcribe them into their writing-books, 
and, finally, say them by heart. The Grammar, which 
is a complete syntax of the language, omitting ele- 
gancies, etc., is, as I have said, Latin, but the prior 
stuHy of the Lexicon is presumed to make the Latin 
intelligible, while its simple construction, as compared 

1 See Letter to the Teacher of the Janual Class ; also DeLatini 
sermonis studio dissertatio, and elsewhere. 



186 TEXT BOOKS OF COMKNIUS 

with other Grammars, makes it easy and attractive .. 
The text of the Janua is finally to be taught in the- 
samer manner as the Vestibulum. 

In his later years Comenius himself became sensible 
of certain defects, and recommended that the ver- 
nacular of all words should be given in the Lexicon, 
and also that the vernacular of the text should be 
printed in parallel columns ; thus returning to his. 
original ideas. 

The mode of using the Janua is given in more 
detail in the Dissertatio de Sermonis Latini Studio, a 
propos of the first edition, and he there tells us that, 
the object, as regards mere language, is to give the 
pupil all the common words of the Latin tongue, ta 
teach him their meanings and roots, and also ta 
teach him to form sentences out of them with gram- 
matical correctness. An Etymological Lexicon and a. 
Grammar containing the body of the language (all save, 
special idioms and elegancies) are consequently added.. 

Like the Vestibulum the Janua is to be gone through 
ten times. At the second reading the whole should be : 
written out , vernacular and Latin . The teacher should 
at this stage speak in Latin to his pupils, and induce- 
them also to speak to each other in Latin ; and with a. 
view to the increase of knowledge, will conversationally 
explain and amplify the lessons of the Jamca. At the 
third reading, the teacher will read out the Latin and 
call for the translation. Meanwhile the first part of 
the Syntactical Grammar will be written out by the: 
pupils. At the fourth perusal, the remainder of the 
Grammar will be written out, and the naming of the 



JANUA UNGUARUM 187 

parts of speech and of the inflexions in the text of 
the Janua thoroughly acquired. At the fifth reading, 
special attention will be given to the roots and deri- 
vatives, and the pupils will begin to write out the 
Lexicon. At the sixth perusal, synonyms, paronyms, 
etc., will be explained ; and at the seventh reading the 
whole will be thoroughly parsed with reference to the 
syntactical rules, which will be written out carefully 
with their subjoined examples. The recitation of the 
text will begin at the eighth perusal. At the ninth 
reading special attention will be paid to the logical 
analysis — examination on the substance of the text 
and on grammar. This sharpens the wit. The after- 
noon is always to be spent in writing out the morning's 
work, in throwing the Janua into the form of question 
and answer. The tenth perusal will consist of the 
boys challenging each other to repeat parts of the 
text. The written exercises will consist of Latin com- 
positions, the vernacular being constructed by the 
teacher (apologues, fables, etc.) out of the words in 
the Janua and its Lexicon, and translated into Latin by 
the pupils. 

It has to be noted that Comenius, in his preface to 
his Auctarium (vol. iv.), distinctly repudiates the first 
edition of the Janua, and wishes to be judged by the 
second edition, which is substantially a new book. 
His words are : — ' Januam nostram linguarum postre- 
mam — pleniorem illam Kncyclopaediolae faciem re- 
ferentem et prae qua priorem illam non amplius agnos- 
cimus nostram.' In doing so he deserted his own 
principles. 



188 text books of comenius 

The Atrium. 

The third Latin book was called the Atrium, and this 
was to effect the transition from the Janua to the 
Palatium or Palace of Authors} Comenius now wishes 
to introduce the pupil to the Latin tongue, used in a 
freer way than in the Janua. The sentences are lon- 
ger, and the treatment of each subject more ample. 
The main end kept in view is the familiarizing of 
the pupil with the elegancies and idioms of the lan- 
guage, and the introducing him to rhetoric in a prac- 
tical form. To effect this, he gives a Grammar of 
Latin specially designed to gather into one view the 
peculiarities and elegancies of the Latin tongue. This 
Grammar is written in Latin, and the pupil is to be 
now presumed competent to understand it. While 
intent on giving the pupil acquaintance with the varie- 
ties and peculiarities of Latin and furnishing him with d a 
liberal copia verborum, he does not depart from his 
great principle to make things carry words. The text 
of the Atrium follows the same line as the Janua, but 
indulges in a larger and more detailed treatment of the 
same subjects. In the Janua, for example, he contents 
himself with such a sentence as this: — ♦ 

1 Omnia reliqua ex his [quatuor elementis] constant. 
Quippe ex iis generantur, iis nutriuntur in eadem dum 
corrumpuntur resolvuntur.' 

In the Atrium he expands this as follows: 

' Hae suntelementaris mundi rotae quatuor, per quas 
eunt et redeunt omnia. Elementis vacans locus nullus 
l The Atrium is called elsewhere Palatium in the Didactica, 
and the Palatium is called the Thesaurus. 



ATRIUM 189 

est: omnia his referta tamque dense stipata sunt 
ut inane spatium nusquam detur, sed agitatio, attritus, 
permistio ; quorum teniperatura salutem dat rebus, in- 
temperies perniciem. Solatio est, si quid corrumpitur, 
in sua redire principia indeque res prodire novas.' 

And so on with the usual ioo chapters and iooo 
paragraphs (which, in the Janua — first edition — 
were merely short sentences). In the edition before 
me, the Atrium^ extends over 153 folio columns, and 
is considerably longer than Caesar's Gallic War. 

The comparison of the two passages which I have 
cited will give a clear idea of the differences between 
the two books. 

This book having been thoroughly mastered, along 
with its accompanying Grammar, the pupil is now sup- 
posed to be able to enter freely en the study of Latin 
authors, a Palatium or Thesaurus of selected works 
being put before him. And certainly any boy, who 
had mastered it, would be quite competent to attack 
Caesar, Sallust, and the easier Orations of Cicero. 
The poets, however, would present a difficulty, for 
the reading of whom the way had not been prepared. 

Mode of using the Atrium. — A complete Latin Gram- 
mar in Latin is prefixed to the Atrium, and is to be 
first studied by the pupils ; then the text, and finally 
the Lexicon. The general method of procedure is pre- 
sumed to be the same as in the Janua, but on this 
Comenius is not explicit, and it would seem as if he 
considered the printing of the vernacular to be un- 
necessary at this advanced stage. We cannot imagine 
that he intended the Atrium, with its Grammar, to be 



190 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

learned by heart. The human mind could not have 
borne the burden. 



Subsidiary Text-Books. 

i. The Or bis Pictus {The World Illustrated). 

In 1657 appeared the Orbis Pictus, the second edi- 
tion following in 1659. This book was intended to be 
supplementary and subsidiary to the Vestibulum and 
Janua. It is simpler than even the first edition of the 
Janua, and much more suitable for a school-book than 
the second edition of the Vestibulum. In this little 
book Comenius applies his principles more fully than 
in any other, for we have not only a simple treatment 
of things in general, but of things that appeal to the 
senses, and along with the lessons we have pictures of 
the objects that form the subjects of the lessons. In- 
deed, the book may be best described as a series of 
rude engravings of sensible objects, accompanied by a 
description of them in short and easy sentences. For 
example, we have the picture of a ship with its sails 
partly set, and a number attached to each part of the 
ship, which corresponds to a number in the les- 
son — thus: the No. 2 is engraved on the sails, and 
in the lesson we have this sentence, \ The ship has 
(2) sails.' The title of the book was, 4 The World of 
Sensible Things drawn ; that is, the Nomenclature 
of all Fundamental Things in the World and Actions 
in Life reduced to Ocular Demonstration, so that it 



OBIS PICTUS. 191 

may be a Lamp to the Vestibulum and Janua of Lan- 
guages.' 1 

There were various editions of the Orbis ; that 
however which was in most complete accord with Co- 
menius's plan was arranged in three columns, thus: — 

Super terra auf der Brden terra, f.,l Brde. 

sunt sond 

alti montes 1 hohe Bergel altus-a-um, hoch, 

profondae valles 2 tiefe Thaler 2 profundus-a-um, tief. 

Etc. , Etc. Etc. 

The figures referred to a wood-engraving of a land- 
scape on the same page, and were affixed to the moun- 
tains, hills, etc., as has been explained above in the 
-case of the lesson on the ship. 

'The foundation of all learning consists,' says Co- 
menius in the preface, ' in representing clearly to the 
senses sensible objects, so that they can be appre- 
hended easily. I maintain that this is the basis of all 
other actions, inasmuch as we could neither act nor 
speak wisely unless we comprehended clearly what we 
wished to say or do. For it is certain that there is 
nothing in the Understanding which has not been 
previously in the Sense ; and consequently, to exercise 
the senses carefully in discriminating the differences of 
natural objects is to lay the foundation of all wisdom, 
all eloquence, and all good and prudent action. ' It is 
the absence from the school of the object about which 
we may be speaking that makes learning and teaching 
alike so troublesome and fruitless. 

l In some of the very numerous editions the title is slightly 
modified. The editions also varied in other respects, but the 
above gives Comenius's own conception of the book. 



192 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

The cuts were done by Michael Kndter of Nurem- 
berg, to whom he felt most grateful for his labors, 
and for enabling him to complete his design of an ele- 
mentary book. ' This work,' he writes, ' belongs ta 
you ; it is entirely new in your profession. You have 
given a correct and clear edition of the Orbis Pictus, 
and furnished figures and cuts, by the help of which 
the attention will be awakened and the imagination 
pleased. This will, it is true, increase the expense of 
the publication, but it will be certainly returned to. 
you.' 

It was consistent with the plan of the book, that it 
should contain the vernacular only, or the Latin only, 
or both. Comenius suggests that the vernacular itself 
would be best learned from the Orbis. The Ja?iua 
had an enormous sale, and was published in many 
languages ; but the editions and sale of the Orbis Pictus 
far exceeded those of the Janua, and, indeed, for some 
time it was the most popular school-book in Europe* 
and deservedly so. 

2. The Schola Liidus. 

Comenius frequently states in his writings that the 
elements of sport should be introduced into schools, 
and with this view constructs a school drama, in which 
the Janua (and a good deal of the language of the 
Atrium) is introduced. The title is, Schola Ludus seu 
Encyclopaedia Viva, Hoc est, Januae Linguarum praxis 
Scenica : res omnes nomenclatura Vestitas et Vestiendas, 
sensibus ad vivum repraesentandi artificium exhibens 
amocnum . In this singular production there are five 



SCHOLA AUDITS 193 

acts, twenty-one scenes and fifty-two dramatis per- 
sonae. The object of the author is to give a theatric 
praxis of the Janua, and partially of the Atrium, by 
bringing the facts of the natural world into a scenic 
representation. The characters represent the various 
departments of knowledge, e. g., the geographer, the 
metallurgist, the chemist, and so forth. For example, 
in the fifth scene of the second act, Water is the sub- 
ject, and there enter, on the stage the following person- 
ages : — Aquinus (representing water in general), 
Marius (representing the sea) , Nubianus (representing 
the clouds), and Stillico (representing rain- drops, ice, 
foam, etc.). These interesting characters give a great 
deal of valuable information. Anything more dreary 
than this sportive Janua it is impossible to conceive ; 
yet he assures us, in his dedicatory epistle, written at 
Amsterdam in 1657, that it was most popular and 
successful with boys and masters ! and elsewhere he 
says that it was performed with great applause before 
the Princess and all her Court in Hungary. He be 
lieve that all school-exercises might be converted into 
games. 

Comenius was of opinion that every stage of school- 
work during the Pansophic septennium might have its 
dramatic exhibition. This dramatic sport in intellec- 
tual work he connects mystically with the words of 
Wisdom (the Son) , in the 8th chapter of Proverbs : ' I 
was by Him as one brought up with him ; and I was, 
daily his delight, rejoicing always before Him ; rejoic- 
ing in the habitable part of His earth ; and my delights 
were with the sons of men ! ' 



194 TEXT BOOKS OF COMENIUS 

The signification of Ludus as the Latin for school 
had also its influence in suggesting these dramatic 
exhibitions. 1 

3. Text- Book of Greek. 

He gives a specimen of what he would propose for 
boys learning Greek in his Ventilabrum Sapientiae, 
published in 1657. It is, as might be expected, Latin- 
Greek. He proposes that Vocabularies should be 
taught to begin with — 1 . The words that are alike in 
Latin and Greek ; e. g., Abyssus, afiv66o<>, 2. Those 
which differ very little, e.g., fama, cpTJju??, forma, jucxppy. 
3. The more common words not alike, e.g., frater 
d8eXq)6i. Then a few brief Greek rules should be given, 
and an outline of Greek accidence appended to the 
body of the book. As his chief object was to introduce 
to the Greek Testament, the text-book, he says, ought 
to consist of 100 select sentences of a moral kind (the 
Latin and Greek in parallel columns) , to be thoroughly 
learned, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten 
Commandments. This would constitute a Vestibulum, 
to be followed by a Janua, consisting of the Greek 
Testament in Latin and Greek, or it might be a sum- 
mary of Testament narrative and of the Christian 
faith. 

So with Hebrew. 

In concluding this account of the text-books, it has 

to be stated that Comenius himself in his old age 

admitted that he had departed from one of his own 

leading principles in attempting to teach too much 

l For the Palatium, see end of next chapter. 



TEXT BOOK OF GREKK 195 

within a limited space and time, and had burdened the 
mind of boys with what was suitable only for adults. 1 

1 A knowledge of the Text-Books is best to be obtained from 
the books themselves, but in connection with them the prefaces 
should be read, and the letters addressed to the teachers of the 
new Patak School, an account of which is contained in the next 
chapter. 



PART IV. 

THE INNKR ORGANIZATION OF A PANSOPHIC 
SCHOOL AND THE) INSTRUCTION -PL AN. 

The external organization of a school-system has 
been exhibited in the Great Didactic. The Mother 
School, the Vernacular School, the Latin School or 
Gymnasium, and the University, constituted together 
Comenius's school-system for a State. The existing 
school -systems of Modern Europe, and especially that 
of Germany, are a tribute to Comenius's sound judg- 
ment. The organization of instruction is certainly not 
in accordance with Comenius's pansophic or encyclo- 
paedic aspirations, but the attention which is now given 
to real studies, and to the cultivation of the senses, 
substantially gives effect to his views. 

The inner character and life of a school — a Latin 
school or Gymnasium being kept specially in view — is 
to be gathered from the 25th chapter of the Novissima 
Met/wdus, and from the numerous writings of the 
period from 1650-54, when Comenius was engaged in 
organizing a model school at Patak, in the north-east 
of Hungary, about twenty miles from Tokay. 1 These 
writings are numerous, prolix, and very tiresome be- 
cause of their repetitions. The following account is 

1 On the Theiss, known as the entrepot of the Tokay wine. 
(196) 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 197 

based on an examination of all these writings, and 
ought to be compared with the ideas of the various 
graded schools expounded in the ' Great Didactic.' 

Thk School. 

The word, school, schola or ludus, indicates an in- 
stitution where many are assembled together to strive 
for some end, but to strive under the conditions of 
play; and these conditions are movement, spontaneity, 
society, rivalry, order, and pleasurable exercise, all of 
which things are to be attained by following the 
methods laid down. The school will thus truly become 
a ludus literarius. The object of the school as a prelude 
of life is to train pupils to know with a view to wis- 
dom, to act, to express themselves, — sapere, agere, 
loqui. The letters of the words themselves yield the 
aims of the school, thus : — • 

Sapienter 
Cogitare : 
Honeste 
Operari : 
IyOqui 
Argute. 

The initial letters, it will be observed, make the word 
Schola, and this quite suits Comenius's fanciful way 
of looking at things, and evidently yields him a real 
satisfaction. The foundation of all is Knowledge, be- 
cause to act wisely or speak well is impossible for an 
ignorant or foolish person. 

A school has been called Officina Humanitatis^ a 



198 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

manufactory of humanity, and this designation, as 
appears from the Great Didactic, Comenius adopts. 

Now, when we say that the school is a manufactory 
of Humanity, we mean that it has to aim at producing 
in men that perfection of humanity whereby a man 
becomes the image of God, the most Wise, most 
Powerful, most Holy. 

When we say that the school is an Ojjficina, we 
mean that it is a place where by the use of certain 
instruments and a certain art, we accomplish what we 
desire to accomplish. The instruments are the persons 
and things employed in teaching and learning, and the 
art is the method laid down whereby tongue, action, 
hand and morals become what we desire them to 
become. 

These generally are the aims and characteristics of 
a school when we have passed within its walls. While 
keeping them carefully in view, we have to lay down 
our scheme more fully. 

General Statement. 

The aim is pansophic or encyclopaedic. We have to 
teach all things to all, if we would train to knowledge 
and wisdom. We have to instruct in morality and 
train to virtue ; we have to instil piety and train to a 
pious habit; and, finally, we have to form the tongue 
to expression and eloquence. Only in this way can 
we train man to true humanity, and make him again 
the image of God. 

With this view the school must be organized, and a 
set amount of work marked out for each grade or 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 199 

class. There should be seven classes (those in the 
lowest class being about twelve years of age). The 
three lowest classes should be called Philological ; the 
fourth, Philosophical ; the fifth, Logical ; the sixth, 
Political; and the seventh, Theological. 

The Philological classes would naturally be desig- 
nated by the text-books they used : the first or lowest, 
which would use the Vestibulum, being called Classis 
Vestibularis, the second Classis J anualis , and the third 
Classis Atrialis. The Philosophical class would give 
a rational account of things ; the Logical would give 
discipline in reasoning ; the Political would give in- 
struction in laws and the social order (including 
history); and the Theological would instruct in the 
mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

A separate room and a separate master should be 
provided for each class, and the building should be on 
an ample scale. There should be a public table for 
poor scholars, so that the res augusta domi should be 
an obstacle to none. 

In a school so organized, and with such aims, the 
pupils will learn all things necessary for this life and 
the next, and that thoroughly. It will be a school of 
Universal Wisdom — in other words, a Schola Pan- 
sophica} ' There is nothing in Heaven or Earth, or in 
the Waters, nothing in the Abyss under the earth, 
nothing in the Human Body, nothing in the Soul, 

1 ' Schola Pansophica : Hoc est, Universalis Sapientiae offi- 
cina ab annis aliquot ubiubigentium erigi optata : nunc autem 
Auspiciis Illustrissitni Domini D. Sigismundi Racoci de Felseo_ 
vadas, etc. Saros-Pataki Hungarorum feliciter erigenda. 
Anno redditae mundi salutis mdcu.' 



200 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMKNIUS 

nothing in Holy Writ, nothing in the Arts, nothing in 
Economy, nothing in Polity, nothing in the Church, 
of which the little candidates of Wisdom shall be 
wholly ignorant. ' They will be trained further in the 
true and spontaneous use of knowledge, and in pru- 
dence and morality. In this palaestra they ' will 
learn, not for school, but for life,' so that the youths 
shall go forth energetic, ready for everything, apt, 
industrious, and worthy of being intrusted with any of 
the duties of life, and" this all the more if they have 
added to virtue a sweet conversation, and have crowned 
all with the fear and love of God. They will also go 
forth capable of expression and eloquence, and that 
not merely in their own tongue, but in the I+atin, 
Greek, and Hebrew. 

For the attainment of these great results three in- 
struments are necessary: good books, good teachers, 
and a good method. 

The seven classes into which the school is to be 
divided are to consist respectively of those pupils who 
are at the same stage of progress, and are pursuing the 
same objects of study. Bach class should be in a 
separate room, that the attention of the pupils may 
not be distracted. Bach class, again, should be di- 
vided into decuriae composed of ten boys each, and 
presided over by a boy older or more advanced than 
his fellows, who should be called Moderator, Inspec- 
tor, Psedagogus, or Decurio. The duty of the decurio 
will be to see that all the boys of his division are in 
their places at the right time, that they attend to the 
^vork of the moment, to assist backward boys, or report 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 201 

them to the preceptor, and to be an example of conduct 
to all. The master himself shall not stand in a corner 
nor shall he walk about, but he will occupy a raised 
position facing the light, so that he may see and be 
seen by all, and where drawings and illustrations of 
lessons may also be easily seen. 

The school-time must be so ordered that every year, 
month, week, day, hour, may have its own task. The 
tasks should be so arranged that they are within the 
powers of the average mind : in this way the more 
ordinary natures will be stimulated, while the more 
precocious and brilliant will be retarded to their ad- 
vantage. Pupils should be admitted only at the be- 
ginning of the school year. On no day should boys do 
more than six hours' work, and those all in public and 
in school. The rest should be given to relaxation and 
domestic duties. The school is the proper place for 
school work ; moreover, home-work is apt to be badly 
done, and badly done work is more hurtful than 
no work at all. The hours should not be consecutive ; 
the morning should be devoted to studies that call into 
requisition the intellect, the judgment, and thememory; 
the afternoon to the discipline of hand, voice, style, 
demeanor (gestus). 

The occupations of the Pansophic school are not all 
t)f equal importance. They may be classed as pri- 
mary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary are those 
which contain the essence or substance of Wisdom 
(knowledge), Virtue, Piety, and Eloquence, such as 
Languages, Philosophy, and Theology ; the secondary 
are auxiliary to these, such as history; the tertiary 



202 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

only indirectly contribute to the primary occupations,.. 
e.g., all that pertain to vigor of health and mental alac- 
rity, such as recreation and sports. But all the occu- 
pations and studies have a place at each successive stage 
of progress, and are to be presented according to the 
same method. 

At the same time, the order of the instruction is 
subject to certain general laws : for in the younger 
classes we have to appeal chiefly to the senses, and 
to cultivate observation; and as the pupils advance, 
we draw more on the activity of the memory, the 
intellect proper, and the power of expressing what is, 
known. 

In the exercise of these powers there are also degrees: 
for example, under the head of the Intellect there are 
three stages ; the first comprehends the statement of 
fact, the second the why of the fact, and the third the 
fundamental principles which underlie the fact and. 
its reason, and enable the student to extend his in- 
vestigations in the same line : for example, a knowl- 
edge of the compass and of the use of it is the first 
stage, a knowledge of its construction and relation to. 
other things is the second stage, and such a knowl- 
edge of the principles lying at the foundation of its 
construction and application as will enable the student 
to advance further in the same line of investigation is 
the third stage. So in Language you have three 
stages : the power to prattle, to speak, and to speak 
eloquently, and instruction must proceed in this order. 
The same remarks apply to the graduated order of 
auxiliary studies, such as History. The word is used 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 203 

in an extended sense : in the third, or Atrial class, 
it means stories which bear on the daily affairs of life 
and on morals; in the fourth, or Philosophical class, 
it deals with Natural History— the study of the works 
of God ; in the fifth, or Logical class, it deals with the 
history of human inventions — mechanical history ; in 
the sixth, or Political class, it deals with the history of 
the customs of various nations ; and in the seventh, or 
Theological class, it deals with the universal history 
of man in the Providence of God. The first or Ves- 
tibulary, and the second, or Janual class, are here 
omitted, because they are occupied with the mere 
nomenclature of things, which stands for history to 
young children. The same remarks apply (but are not 
always successfully applied by Comenius) to all the 
studies and exercises of the school. 

The senses, he has said, have to be specially ap- 
pealed to in the earliest classes, since they are the 
guides to knowledge. We do not speak to our pupils, 
but the things themselves ; and everything should be 
taught by means of the things themselves, or where 
these fail, by accurate representations of them. The 
walls of the school should be hung with pictures, and 
the reading books should be full of them. The intel- 
lect again will be exercised by the explanation of 
everything that is read or taught, and by requiring the 
explanation to be given by the scholars, — for we do 
not form parrots, but men. The memory also has to 
be cultivated, for, as Quintilian says, Tantum scimus 
quantum memoria tenemus. But the exercise of the 
memory does not mean the wearing the pupil out by 



204 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COM^NIUS 

requiring him to learn things off by heart ; but the fre- 
quent and sufficient presentation of things clearly under- 
stood, till, of their own accord, they adhere. Weekly 
memory-contests, at which the pupils challenge each 
other to state what has been learned, will be of value 
in stimulating the memory. 

As regards style : let the pupils be required to write 
weekly letters to one another on given subjects, and 
let the decurio look after these, under the supervision 
of the master. 

The tongue will be exercised by requiring that 
the conversation of the boys one with another be 
in I^atin. The voice will be cultivated by teaching 
all to sing, and by teaching notation at certain fixed 
times. 

The morals and demeanor of the pupils will receive 
the close attention of the masters, and their reproof 
of wrong, and their commendation of good conduct 
will always be prompt. Further, the formation of 
a school, and even of individual classes, into a re- 
public, with its senate and proctor, which will hold 
sessions occasionally, and pronounce judgment on 
conduct, will do much to prepare for the business 
of life. 

Piety will be fostered by taking care that in going to 
bed and rising, prayers be said and the Holy Scriptures 
read : also in beginning and ending the studies of the 
day, and before and after meals. 

To encourage the more active-minded boys, special 
reading should by allowed of authors outside the usual 
school-course, such as the sacred dialogues of Castalio, 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 205 

the Colloquies of Erasmus, the Epistles of Seneca, the 

Histories of Nepos, Curtius, etc. 

All sorts of exercises and innocent games are to be 

not only permitted but encouraged, for giving vigor 

and health to the body ; and also sedentary games 

which call for a certain quickness of wit. 

Scenic representations and the acting of plays are 

to be encouraged as a relaxation, so long as the 

subject is not immoral in its character or treatment, as 

are the Roman plays, but constructed to represent 

some memorable histories, sacred or profane. These 

not only afford recreation, but are educationally of 

good effect in many ways. 

The times of relaxation should be frequent — half- 

an-hour after every hour's work. The daily time-table 

should be arranged somewhat as follows : — 
Forenoon. 

6 to 7 A. m. Hymns, Reading of Scripture, Meditation, and 
Prayers. 

7>£ — 8}4 The primary task of the class — more theoreti- 

cally given. 

9 — io The same practically given. 

Afternoon. 

i — 2 p. M. Music, or some other pleasant mathematical 
exercise. 

2:30 — 3:30 History. 

4 — 5 Exercises in Style. 

There should be two half-holidays weekly ; a fort- 
night at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost ; and a 
whole month at the harvest-time. 

More Detailed Statement. 

A still more detailed statement of the work of the 



2Q(> EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

seven classes is to be obtained by reading what we 
have already said of the Text-books in Part III., and 
by what follows : — 

I. The -Vestibulary Class. — On the four walls of 
the class-room should be painted the Latin characters, 
models of the regular declensions and conjugations, 
and brief moral precepts. 

By means of a thorough study of the Vestibulum in 
the way already laid down, the class will aquire a 
knowledge of things in an elementary and' yet funda- 
mental way, and also of the roots of words, — that is 
to say, it will be instructed in the foundations of all 
intelligence; and in addition to this, it will be in- 
structed in morality in a form suited to boyhood. The 
rudiments of arithmetic will at this stage be given, 
a knowledge of weights, measures, and geometrical 
forms, and music. The teacher will take advantage 
of the words learned to add to the knowledge of the 
pupils. 

II. The Janual Class. — On one wall should be 
painted illustrations of the most important natural 
objects mentioned in the text of the Janua, and op- 
posite these the more important artificial objects should 
be drawn. The remaining two walls should be occu- 
pied with grammatical warnings , having reference to the 
peculiarities of the pupil's mother-tongue. 

In religion the Catechism should at this stage be 
thoroughly learned. 

The knowledge of things and words and grammati- 
cal construction is to be obtained from the Janua. 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 207 

Addition and Subtraction in Arithmetic ; the plane 
figures in Geometry, and Music, are to be taught. 

The Composition exercises will consist of the con- 
struction of clauses and sentences on the foundation of 
the words and rules of the /anua. 

III. The A trial Class . — The walls should be painted 
over with emblems, and with a selection of warnings 
regarding the elegancies of writing and speech. ' 

In religion the work of this class will be to read an 
epitome of Scripture (in Scripture words), and to 
learn by heart a collection of psalms, hymns and 
prayers. The pupils will make acquaintance also with 
those narratives which are likely to generate virtue and 
piety. 

In addition to the proper study of the Atrial Text- 
book, Division and Multiplication in arithmetic, and 
instruction in solid figures, should be given. Music 
will be continued, and select verses from the I^atin 
poets read. Exercises in style on the basis of the 
Atrium will be given. 

At this stage the Schola Ludus is to be introduced. 
This, as I have elsewhere explained, was simply the 
Janua thrown into dramatic form in accordance with 
the author's conviction that all the work of the L,atin 
school might take a gamesome form. 

IV. The Philosophical Class. — On the walls of this 
class-room things are to be represented connected with 
arithmetic, geometry, statics, anatomy. 

In religious instruction, hymns and forms of morn- 
ing and evening prayer, and of prayers before and 



208 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

after meals and studies, and a Hie of Christ harmonized 
from the four Gospels, are to be read. 

The class-book will be the first Palace of Wisdom, in 
which there will be a survey and explanation of all ob- 
jects of nature written in a style higher and more or- 
nate than the style of the previous books. 

The Rule of Three in Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigo- 
nometry, and the 9 elements of Statics, are to be taught ; 
also Instrumental Music, and Natural History made 
up out of iElian and Pliny. 

As to style, which ought now to be on the model of 
classical authors : this will be suspended so as to admit 
of the last of the afternoon hours being devoted to 
Greek, the object being to give sufficient Greek to 
enable the boys, when they reach the subsequent classes,, 
to read the New Testament in the original. 

V. The Logical Class. — The walls of the class-room 
should be painted over with a selection of Rules of 
Logic and ingenious emblems representing emanations 
of mind. 1 The religious instruction shall include tne 
study of a collection of hymns and prayers and a 
manual of the whole Bible, to be called the Gate of the 
Sanctuary, in which the substance of the sacred writ- 
ings, as much as possible in the words of Holy Writ 
itself, will be given : also a chapter of the Greek New 
Testament should be read daily. 

The afternoon hours should be devoted to Arith- 
methic, Geometry, Astronomy, Geography, and the 
elements of Optics, along with the History of Me* 
chanical Inventions. 

1 Whatever this may mean. 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 209 

The class-book belonging to this stage will contain 
a free treatment of various arts and a strict scientific 
treatment of one, so as to bring into view the charac- 
teristics of exact scientific truth as distinguished from 
opinion. 

Exercises in style should be given at this stage on 
the model of the historians — Caesar, Curtius, Nepos, 
and Justin. The study of Greek is to be carried on by 
those only who desire to prosecute that language 
specially : these should read Greek orators, such as 
Isocrates, and also the Moralia of Plutarch. 

VI. The Political Class. — The pictures on the class-^ 
wall should represent the significance of order and 
connection ; e. g. } there should be pictures of the hu- 
man body wanting certain limbs, others having a super ^ 
abundance of limbs, and one complete and well-formed. 

In religion the full text of scripture will be studied. 

The class-book (the third book of Universal Wisdom) 
will treat of human society. 

Besides, the applications of Arithmetic (ex arithmeticis 
Logisticaf), applications of Geometry to Architecture, 
the theory of the planets, and the doctrine of eclipses, 
will be taught : compendiums of the geography of the 
world will also be made. 

For the sake of style, Sallust and Cicero, Virgil and 
Horace, will be read. The pupils will now discuss 
questions in Latin prescribed berforehand, and be en- 
couraged to use greater freedom in their Latin style. 
Verse-making yields no fruit worthy of the labor, but 
should not be prohibited in the case of those who have 
a disposition that way. 



210 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

Those desirous of continuing their Greek studies 
should read Thucydides and the poets. 

VII. The Theological Class. — Scriptural emblems, 
shadowing forth the mysteries of Theology, should 
adorn three sides of the class-room, and one should be 
devoted to tables of the Hebrew Grammar and to select 
Hebrew sayings. 

The class-book, the concluding Palace of Wisdom, 
should explain the intercourse of souls with God, etc. 
Mathematics should consist of a study of sacred archi- 
tecture ; e.g. , the construction of the Mosaic Tabernacle, 
the Temple of Solomon, etc. The history taught 
should be universal history, with special reference to 
the history of the Church and the order of Divine 
Providence. The exercises in style should be in sacred 
subjects ; and, in addition to these various studies, 
Hebrew should be acquired. 

In the treatise De Latinae linguae studio perfecte 
instituendo Dissertatio Didactica, published in 1637, he 
assumes that the upper classes read selections from 
classical authors, which he proposes to arrange in four 
books — Epistolary, Historical, Oratorical, and Poeti- 
cal, 1 and that the relative Lexicon, either in Latin- 
vernacular or vernacular- Latin, should be a Lexicon of 
phrases, idioms, and varieties of expression; e. g.> 
under the word Dubito would come the following words 
and expressions : Haereo, hesito. Ambigo. Fluctuo. 
Incertus sum quid agam. Incertum mihi est. In an- 
cipiti sum ; and so forth. 

l Palatium Epistolicum^ with a hundred epistles ; Palatium 
Historicum, P. Oratorium, P. Poeticum. 



A PANSOPHIC SCHOOL 211 

Looking to the exercises in style prescribed in 
Comenius's latest edition of his educational views, as 
given above, I think we must assume that the selec- 
tions from classical authors were to be read along with 
the special class-book of the year ; if not by all, atleast 
by all who could overtake them : and this, notwith- 
standing the fact that extracts from classical authors 
would doubtless be introduced into the class-books in 
so far as relevant to their subject-matter. 

Thus in the space of seven years, beginning at 
twelve years of age, the human being will be formed 
to a whole and complete humanity in respect of 
Things, Tongues, Morality, and Piety ; he will be 
able to judge of all things, and in no important thing 
to err ; and, fortified with the elements of universal 
knowledge, he may now be allowed to study all 
books, human and divine, and enter on the business 
of life. 



CONCLUSION. 

As Comenius increased in years the religions ele- 
ment in his educational theories assumed more and 
more prominence. But he never lost sight of his lead- 
ing principles. The object of all education was to 
train children to be sons of God, but the way to this 
was through knowledge, and knowledge was through 
method. His disposition to see fanciful parallels in 
nature increased, and scripture more and more seemed 
to him to confirm his teachings. A mystical tendency 
was manifested in his final works written in Amster- 
dam between 1654-57, especially in his final edu- 
cational utterance written in Amsterdam, and en- 
titled, — 

' The Idea of Didactic out of the Eternal Arcana. 

1 The Son can do nothing of himself, save what he 
seeeth the Father do ; for what things soever he doeth, 
these doeth the Son likewise. The Father loveth the 
Son, andsheweth him all things.' —fohn v. 19, 

From this flow the following propositions (since the- 
1 invisible things of God from the creation of tht 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made,' Rom. i. 20) : — 

1 . That schools ought to be a kind of imitation of 
Heaven. 

2. That the intercourse of teachers with taught 
ought to be like that of fathers with sons. 

- f 212) 



CONCLUSION 213 

3. That sons are able to know and do nothing of 
themselves. 

4. Whatever therefore they ought to know or to do 
(both here and for eternity), — all should be first shown 
to them. 

5. That the said showing beforehand devolves on 
fathers, that is, en teachers. 

6. And this, not by presenting examples alien to the 
matter in hand, but proper to it, so that things that 
have to be done may be taught by doing them. 

7. That the imitation of all things be exacted in a 
paternal spirit. 

8 . And that it be be exacted so that sons may do all 
things in like manner as the example. 

On the other hand the eternal idea is departed from 
whenever — 

1 . All things are done in any sort of fashion, regard 
being had to no type, much less the best. 

2. The intercourse of teachers with pupils is nothing 
else save that of hirelings with sheep — for the sake of 
the fat and the wool. 

3. The pupils are left to themselves, and are required 
to do what they have not yet been taught to do, as if 
they were able of themselves to know what a teacher 
knows. 

4. And cue not taught all things necessary for this 
life and the next, but only scraps. 

5 . And the eacher does not teach all things him- 
self, but commits them to another, or presents to the 
pupil a dumb teacher — a book. 

6. And what he teaches he does not teach by ex 



214 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

amples, but by precepts, and, when the pupil does not 
do what he is ordered, by blows. 

7. Or, when he does give examples, gives what are 
alien to the matter in hand, and does not show how 
they are to be rightly imitated. 

8. Or, if he show examples, does not insist on the 
imitation of them by much and constant practice. 

9 . And does not exact that imitation in such a way as 
to make of every pupil a master capable of doing things 
equal to what has been pointed out to him as models. 

This is the sum of all that I wish to have done by 
those who undertake to rear little sons of God. I 
have no more to say. And you, gentlemen, with your 
schools and all the youth of, your city 1 dedicated to 
Christ, I commend to the grace of God, and myself 
to your favor ; signing these my last utterances on 
Education on the day of the conversion of Paul, on 
which may the hearts of us all turn to the Eord saying, 
as Saul said, ' Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? ' 

And now, O Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, who re- 
joiceth in the habitable parts of the earth, and whose 
delight is among the sons of men, who wast well 
pleased, when dwelling with us in the flesh, to converse 
with little ones and to think them worthy of thy em- 
braces as being heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, count 
worthy of Thy favor now those who do not disdain to 
serve Thy little ones ; so that by means of them Thy 
Blessed Kingdom, here of Grace, there of Glory, may 
receive a goodly increase, worthy of Thee, the King 
of the Eternal World. Amen. Amen. Amen. 

1 Amsterdam. 



BRIEF CRITICAL SURVEY. 

Thk object of this volume is to present Comenius 
himself to the English reader — not Comenius as I 
may understand him. The latter would have been a 
comparatively easy task. His historical position, and 
his relation to his prececessors, have been brought into 
view in the Introduction , and his educational aims and 
labors have been fully set forth in the sketch of his 
life. We have now only to survey critically the lead- 
ing characteristics of his system . 

The Realism of the Humanists had failed to produce 
the results they had anticipated. It was in England 
and Scotland, rather than on the continent of Europe, 
that the genuine Humanistic spirit was most active in 
schools. But not for long. Schools and schoolmas- 
ters fell back under the dominion of words, abstract 
propositions, and barren logicalities. This was inevit- 
able. The preoccupation of men's minds with theo- 
logical and political strife caused the true significance 
of the educational revival to fall out of sight. The 
indispensable condition, moreover, of the continuance 
of the methods of Trotzendorf, and Sturm, and Ascham, 
was a school of Teachers, and a tradition of Method. 
There was neither the one nor the other. 

Comenius 's inspiring motive, like that of all leading 
educationalists, was social regeneration. He believed 

(215) 



216 EDUCATIONAL SYSTKM OF COMENIUS 

that this could be accomplished through the school. 
He lived under the hallucination that by a proper ar- 
rangement of the subject matter of instruction, and 
by a sound method, a certain community of thought 
and interests would be established among the young, 
which would result in social harmony and political 
settlement. He believed that men could be manufac- 
tured. Had we Chinese to deal with, the dream of 
educational enthusiasts might possibly be realized ; 
but its realization would be a misfortune. We have, 
happily, not Chinese to deal with, but the strong and 
vigorous European races, full of character and in- 
dividuality, — the loss of which would be the loss of 
manhood. Variety, inequality, and strife seem to be 
essential to the true life of the higher races. 

Humanism, which had practically failed in the school, 
had, apart from this fact, no attractions for Comenius, 
and still less had the worldly wisdom of Montaigne. 
He was a leading Protestant theologian, — the pastor 
and bishop of a small but earnest and devoted sect, 
— and it was as such that he wrote on Education. 
The best results of Humanism could, after all, be only 
culture, and this not necessarily accompanied by moral 
earnestness or personal piety: on the contrary, prob- 
ably dissociated from these, and leaning rather to 
scepticism and intellectual self-indulgence. At the 
same time, it must be noted that he never fairly 
faced the Humanistic question ; he rather gave it the 
cold shoulder from the first. His whole nature pointed 
in another direction. When he has to speak of the 
great instruments of Humanistic education, the ancient 



CRITICAL SURVKY 217 

classical writers, — he exhibits great distrust of them, 
and if he does not banish them from the school alto- 
gether, it is simply because the higher instruction in 
the Latin and Greek tongues is seen to be impossible 
without them. Even in the Universities, as his Pan- 
sophic scheme shows, he would have had Plato and 
Aristotle taught chiefly by means of analyses and epi- 
tomes. It might be urged in opposition to this view 
of the anti-Humanism of Comenius, that he contem- 
plated the acquisition of a good style in Latin in the 
higher stages of instruction : true, but in so far as he 
did so, it was merely with a practical aim, — the more 
effective and, if need be, oratorical enforcement of 
moral and religious truth. The beauties and subleties 
of artistic expression had little charm for him, nor did 
he set much store by the graces , The most conspicu- 
ous illustration of the absence of all idea of Art in 
Comenius is to be found in his school drama. The 
unprofitable dreariness of that production would make 
a reader sick were he not relieved by a feeling of its 
absurdity. 

The educational spirit of the Reformers, the convic- 
tion that all — even the humblest — must be taught to 
know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, was 
inherited by Comenius in its completeness. In this 
way, and in this way only, could the ills of Europe be 
remedied, and the progress of humanity assured. 
While, therefore, he sums up the educational aim un- 
der the threefold heads of Knowledge, Virtue, and Piety 
or Godliness, he in truth has mainly in view the last 
two. Knowledge is of value only in so far as it forms 



218 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUF 

the only sound basis, in the eyes of a Protestant theo- 
logian, of virtue and godliness. We have to train for 
a hereafter. 

In virtue and godliness Comenius did not propose to 
teach anythiug save what the Reformed religion taught. 
His characteristic merits in this department of instruc- 
tion were these : — 

i . Morality and godliness were to be taught from the 
first. Parents and teachers were to begin to train at 
the beginning of the child's conscious life. 

2. Parents and teachers were to give milk to babes, 
and reserve the stronger meat for the adolescent and 
adult mind. They were to be content to proceed 
gradually, step by step. 

3. The method of procedure was not only to be 
adapted to the growing mind, but the mode of enforce- 
ment was to be mild, and the manner of it kind and 
patient. 

Had Comenius done nothing more but put forth and 
press home these truths he would have deserved- our 
gratitude as an educationalist. 

But he did more than this. He related virtue and 
godliness to Knowledge. By knowledge Comenius 
meant knowledge of nature and of man's relation to 
nature. It is this important characteristic of Come- 
nius 's educational system that reveals the direct in- 
fluence of Bacon and his school. To the great Veru- 
lam he pays reverence for what he owed him, but he 
owed him even more than he knew. 

In this field of Knowledge, the leading characterirtic 
of the educational system of Comenius is his Realism. 



CRITICAL SURVEY 219 

We have pointed out, 1 in contradiction of the assump- 
tions of the modern sensationalist school, that the 
Humanists were in truth Realists, and it may be safely 
said that there can be no question among competent 
judges as to the Realism which ought to characterize 
all rational and sound instruction . The question rather 
is as to the field in which the Real is to be sought— in 
the mind of man, or in external nature. As the 
former may be called Humanistic -Realism, so the latter 
may be called Sense, or Naturalistic-Realism. Of the 
latter, Comenius is the true founder, although his in- 
debtedness to Ratich was great. Mere acquisition of 
the ordered facts of nature, and man's relation to them, 
was with him the great aim — if not the sole aim — of 
all purely intellectual instruction. And here there 
necessarily entered the governing idea, encyclopaedism, 
or pansophism. Let all the arts and sciences, he said, 
be taught in their elements in all schools, and more 
fully at each successive stage of the pupil's progress. 
It is by knowledge that we are what we are, and the 
necessary conclusion from this must be, ' Let all things 
be taught to all.' 

It is at this point that many will part company with 
Comenius. The mind stored with facts, even if these 
be ordered facts, will not necessarily be much raised in 
the scale of humanity as an Intelligence. The natural 
powers may be simply overweighted by the process, 
and the natural channels of spontaneous Reason choked.. 
In education, while our main business is to promote 
the growth of moral purpose and of a strong sense of 
l See Introduction. 



220 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OE COMENIUS 

duty, we have to support these by the discipline 
of intelligence, and by training to power of work rather 
than by information. On the other hand, only those 
who are ignorant of the history and the recognized 
results of education will wholly abjure Realism in the 
Comenian sense ; but it has to be assigned its own 
place, and nothing more than this, in the education of 
a human being. The sum of the matter seems to be 
this, that while a due place in all education is to be 
assigned to sense-realistic studies, especially in the 
earlier years of family and school life, the Humanistic 
agencies must always remain the most potent in the 
making of a man. 

Comenius and his followers,' again, confound knowl- 
edge with wisdom. He affirms that ( all authors are to 
be banished from school except those that give a 
knowledge of useful things. ' Wisdom is certainly not 
to be opposed to knowledge, but it depends more on a 
man's power of discrimination, combination, and 
imagination, than on the extent of his mental store of 
facts. Were it not so, our whole secondary education, 
and all the purely disciplinal part of our University 
instruction, would be very far astray. If the ancient 
tongues are to be learned simply with a view to the 
sum of knowledge they contain , it would be absurd to 
waste the time of our youth over them. It would be 
better to impose on our Universities the duty of fur- 
nishing guaranteed translations for the use of the 
public. We shall not, however, involve ourselves in 
controversy here, as our object is merely to point out, 
generally, the strong and the weak points of our author. 



CRITICAL SURVEY 221 

Next in importance to pansophy or encyclopaedism , 
and closely connected with it, is the principle that a 
knowledge of words and of things should go hand in hand. 
Words are to be learned through things. Properly 
interpreted, and under due limitations, this principle 
will , we presume , be now generally accepted . We say , 
under due limitations, because it is manifest that the 
converse proposition, that ' things are learned through 
words,' is easily capable of proof, and is indeed, in 
our opinion, the stronghold of Humanistic teaching in 
its earlier or school stages. 

It is in the department of Method, however, that we 
recognize the chief contribution of Comenius to educa- 
tion. The mere attempt to systematize was a great ad- 
vance. In seeking, however, for foundations on which 
to erect a coherent system, he had to content himself 
with first principles which were vague and unscientific. 

Modern Psychology was in its infancy, and Comenius 
had little more than the generalizations of Plato and 
Aristotle, and those not strictly investigated by him, 
for his guide. In training to virtue, moral truth and 
the various moralities were assumed as if they emerged 
full-blown in the consciousness of man. In training 
to godliness, again, Christian dogma was ready to his 
hand. In the department of knowledge, that is to say, 
knowledge of the outer world, Comenius rested his 
method on the scholastic maxim, Nihil est in intellectu 
quod non prizes fuerit in sensu. This maxim he en- 
riched with the Baconian induction, comprehended by 
him however only in a general way . It was chiefly , how- 
ever, the imagined harmony of physical and mental 



222 EDUCATIONAL SYSTKM OF COMKNIUS 

processes that yielded his method. He believed that 
the processes of the growth of external things had a 
close resemblance to the growth of mind. Had he 
lived in these days he would doubtless have endeavored 
to work out the details of his method on a purely 
psychological basis ; but in the then state of psychology 
he had to find another thread through the labyrinth. 
The mode of demonstration which he adopted was 
thus, as he himself called it, the Syncretic or Ana- 
logical. Whatever may be said of the harmony that 
exists between the growth of nature and of mind, there 
can be no doubt that the observation of the former is 
capable of suggesting, if it does not furnish, many of 
the rules of educational method. 

From the simple to the complex, from the particular 
to the general, the concrete before the abstract, and all, 
step by step, and even by insensible degrees, — these 
were among his leading principles of method. But 
the most important of all his principles was derived 
from the scholastic maxim quoted above. As all is 
from sense, let the thing to be known be itself presented 
to the senses, and let every sense be engaged in the 
perception of it. When it is impossible, from the 
nature of the case, to present the object itself, place 
a vivid picture of it before the pupil. The mere 
enumeration of these few principles, even if we drop 
out of view all his other contributions to method and 
school -management, will satisfy any man familiar with 
all the more recent treatises on Education, that Come- 
nius, even after giving his persecutors their due, is to 
be regarded as the true founder of modern Method, 



CRITICAL SURVEY 223 

and that he anticipates Pestalozzi and all of the same 
school . 

When we come to consider Comenius's method as 
specially applied to language, we recognize its general 
truth, and the teachers of Europe and America will 
now be prepared to pay it the homage of theoretical 
approval at least. To admire, however, his own at- 
tempt at working out his linguistic method is impos- 
sible, unless we first accept his encyclopaedism. The 
very faults with which he charged the school practices 
of the time are simply repeated by himself in a new 
form.. The boy's mind is overloaded with a mass of 
words — the names and qualities of everything in 
Heaven, on the earth, and under the earth. It was 
impossible that all these things, or even pictures of 
them, could be presented to sense, and hence his books 
must have inflicted a heavy burden on the merely 
verbal memory of boys. We want children to grow 
into knowledge, not to swallow numberless facts made 
up into boluses. Again, the amount that was to be 
acquired within a given time was beyond the youthful 
capacity. Any teacher will satisfy himself of this who 
will simply count the words and sentences in the/anua 
and Or bis, and then try to distribute these over the 
school-time allowed by Comenius. Like all reformers, 
Comeniuswas over-sanguine. I do not overlook the 
fact that command over the Latin tongue as a vehicle 
of expression was the prime necessity of the time for 
all who meant to devote themselves to professions and 
to learning, and that Comenius had this justification for 
introducing a mass of vocables now wholly useless to 



224 EDUCAMONAI, SYSTKM OF COMENIUS 

the student of Latin. But even for his own time, 
Comenius, under the influence of his encyclopaedic 
passion, overdid his task. His real merits in language- 
teaching lie in the introduction of the principle of 
graduated reading- books, in the simplification of Latin 
grammar, in his founding instruction in foreign tongues 
on the vernacular, and in his insisting on method in 
instruction. But these were great merits, too soon 
forgotten by the dull race of schoolmasters, if, indeed, 
they were ever fully recognized by them till quite 
recent times. 

Finally, Comenius 's views as to the inner organiza- 
tion of a school were original, and have proved them- 
selves in all essential respects correct. 

The same may be said of his scheme for the organi- 
zation of a State-system — a scheme which is substan- 
tially, mutatis mutandis, at this moment embodied in 
the highly-developed system of Germany. 

When we consider, then, that Comenius first formally 
and fully developed educational method, that he intro- 
duced important reforms into the teaching of langua- 
ges, that he introduced into schools the study of 
Nature, that he advocated with intelligence, and not 
on purely sentimental grounds, a milder discipline, we 
are justified in assigning to him a high, if not the high- 
est, place among modern educational writers, The 
voluminousness of his treatises, their prolixity, their 
repetitions, and their defects of style, have all operated 
to prevent men studying him. The substance of all he 
has written, has been, I believe, faithfully given by 
me, but it has not been possible to transfer to these 



CRITICAL SURVEY 225 

pages the fervor, the glow, and the pious aspirations 
of the good old Bishop. 

If any are disposed to regard with impatience the 
encyclopaedic proposals of Comenius, I would have 
them consider that two great Englishmen, Milton and 
Locke, shared substantially the same views. And 
when we compare a youth who has been instructed 
merely in the bare, bald facts of the outer world, and 
his relation to them, with the youth who has been left 
to himself, we rightly conclude that there is a certain 
educational power even in mere information. And 
yet the summed-up result, in respect of intelligence 
and character, in the case of youths of encyclopaedic 
and superficial acquisitions is not satisfactory. On 
the contrary, it is sadly disappointing when compared 
with the labor expended by both teacher and taught. 
On the other hand, we certainly find the supreme edu- 
cational result — that is to say, wisdom, virtue, and 
capacity for affairs — to have been attained (as nearly 
as human imperfection admits of) by a totally differ- 
ent process. We are thus forced to revise our theories. 
The way whereby nature makes a mind is not so plain 
as it first appears. If educators could find that secret 
way, it would doubtless be their duty to follow it, cost 
what it might. 

In seeking to ascertain our duty, let us not wilfully 
exaggerate differences in modes of procedure where 
there is essential community of aim. All educational- 
ists, of whatsoever school, who have endeavored, seri- 
ously to think on the subject on which they write, 
agree in proposing to themselves wisdom and virtue as 



226 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF COMENIUS 

their end. ' Culture, ' it is true, is the deity which some 
worship, but it is difficult to say what culture is. and 
until we have settled this, we may leave it out of ac- 
count. This we can safely affirm, that self-culture is 
possible only by the culture of that which is not self. 
Were any man to propose himself to himself as the ob- 
ject of his self-discipline, he would emerge from the 
educational laboratory a narrow-souled, insufferable 
prig. I^et us drop culture, then, and confine ourselves 
to the common ground of wisdom and virtue. All 
agree so far, and the question at issue these three hun- 
dred years, and still unsettled, is, by what process can 
this supreme end be attained ? By moral instruction 
and training, all alike answer ; but by what further in- 
struments ? By the study of man and of human life 
and thought, as these are embodied for us in language 
and literature, or by the study of external nature and 
our relations to it ? We do not propose here to attempt 
to answer the question, but in the debate between 
Humanists and Sense-Realists a service is rendered if 
the issue be narrowed and defined. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE EDUCATIONAL 
WORKS OF COMENIUS. 



Note. — In this Bibliography I have followed the order and 
the numbering given by Prof. Laurie in the note appended to 
the Life, and preceding the Educational System. That gave 
only the Latin titles, and I have added in parentheses the trans- 
lated titles given by Benham, pp. 117-121. The notes in brack- 
ets are of course my own. 

C. W. BARDEEN. 



(227) 



Vol. i.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 229 

Payne, W. H. — Bibliography of Comenius. Pp. 
100-104 of his Short History of Education. Syra- 
cuse, 1881. .50. 



J. A. Comenii OPERA DIDACTICA OMNIA, 

variis hucusque occasionibus scrip ta, diversisque locis 
edita ; nunc autem non tantum in unum, ut simul 
sint, collecta, sed et ultimo conatu in Systema unum 
mechanice constructum, redacta. Amsterdam, 1657, 
folio, pp. 2271. 

[The paging, 451-591, vol. iii., is repeated by the printer. The 
portrait on the opposite page is reproduced from the frontispiece 
of this edition]. 

VOL. I. — (Poland Period, 1627-164.2). 

1. — De primis occasionibus, quibus hue studiorum 
delatus fuit Author, brevissima relatio. (Brief nar- 
ration of the circumstances which first led the author 
to these studies) . 

2.— DIDACTICA MAGNA. Omnes omnia do- 
cendi artificia exhibens. (The Great Didactics, 
showing the method of teaching all things) . 

[See pages 37, 42, 45, 50, 62, 76-143, 155, 164, 165, 167, 196. 
This was its first appearance in L,atin. Vol. III. of the Paedo- 
gogische Bibliothek of Karl Richter (Leipzig) contains the 
Didactica, a Life of Comenius, and notes, edited by Julius 
Beeger and Franz Zoubek. An edition in German 
(Grosse Unterrichtslehre) edited with introduction, by Dr. 
G. A. Lindner (12 mo, pp. 311, Wien, 1877), is in print, andmay 
be had of the publisher of this volume, at $1.50. The reprint 
at Prague in 1849 (8vo, pp. 268) referred toon page 37, has for 
its title, Didaktika Tehoz]. 



230 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Op.Om. 

3. — Schola Materni Gremii, sive de provida Ju- 
ventutis primo sexennio Educatione. (The School of 
the Maternal Bosom, or provident education of children 
during their first six years) . 

[See pages 137-143, 148. First printed in German at Leszno 
in 1633, and reprinted at Leipzig by G. Gross. A new transla- 
tion into German {Die Mutterschule von Amos Comenius) by 
H. Schroeter, was published at Weissenfels, in 1864, and again 
at Halle, in 1874. An English translation (The School of In- 
fancy), by Daniel Benham, was published in London in 1858 
(12 mo, pp. 75, steel frontispiece), preceded by a Life of Comen- 
ius (pp. 168, steel portrait)]. 

4. — Scholae vernaculae delineatio. (Delineation of 
a vernacular school). 

[Comenius writes : "Six small books were written, adapted 
to the six classes of the vernacular school. These, however, 
were never published , as there were no opportunities of restor- 
ing the schools of my native land. I therefore give here a 
translation of the titles only." These are the Violet-Bed, Rose- 
Bed, Garden, Labyrinth, Balsam, and Paradise of the Soul]. 

5.— JANUA LATINAE LINGUAE RESERATA, 
primum edita. (Gate of the Latin Language opened). 

[See below, page 235.] 

6. — Vestibulum ei Praestructum. (The Vesti- 
bule before this Gate). 

[See below, page 235.] 

7. — Proplasrna Templi Latinitatis Dav. Vechneri : 
et cur opus non processerit. (David Vechner's 
model of a Temple of Latinity, and why this work 
did not proceed). 



Vol.n.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 231 

8. — De sermonis Latini studio. (On a quadripartite 
Study of Latin.) 

[Addressed to the inhabitants of Breslau, and printed at 
Leszno, 1637]. 

9. — Prodromus Pansophiae. (Harbinger of a Circle 
of Sciences). 

[See page 46. Benham (p. 52) thinks this was the work of 
which the title is reproduced on the following page. He says 
(p. 118) it was printed at Oxford in 4 to, 1836, at London, 12 mo, 
and at Paris, &c] - 

10. — Variorum de eo Censurae. (Censures on this 
Harbinger) . 

11. — Pansophicorum Conatuum Dilucidatio. (Ex- 
planation of these Pansophic attempts). 

[Published at Leszno, in 4 to.] 

VOL. II. — (Elbing Period, 164.2-1656). 

1. — De novis Didactica studia continuandi occasioni- 
bus. (New reasons for continuing to devote attention 
to didactic studies). 

[Contains notice of the Pansophia (Circle of Sciences) : pub- 
lished at Dantzig in 1643, and reprinted by the Elzevirs at 
Amsterdam, 1645]. 

2. — MethoduS Linguarum Novissim a fundamentis 
didacticiSy solide superstructa . (New method of study- 
ing languages, solidly built upon didactic foundations). 

[See pages 53, 133, 154-165, 175, 185, 196. Printed at Leszno in 
8 vo, 1648, and reprinted there in folio. The substance is given 
on pages 154 to 165 of this volume]. 

3. — Latinae linguae Vestibulum, rerum et linguae 
cardines exhibens. (Vestibule of the Latin language, 
adapted to the laws of the most recent method of Ian- 



•fe 



|£kRE- FORMATION 

{Kk^* of B^a 

"SCHOOLES, 

DESIGNED IN 

rvvo excellent Treatifes: 

The firft whereof Summarily fheweth, 

The great neceffity of a generaU Reformation of 

Common Learning; \ 
What grounds. of hope there are for fuch a Reforntatiffl M 
How it may be brought to paflfe. *^ 

The fecond anfwers certaine objedions ordioari!^ 

madeagainft fiich undercakings,and defcribcs the feve^fe : Jj 



1 

i 

# 



^ Parts and Titles of Workes which are {hortly to follow. 



Written many yeares agoe in Latine by that"' 

Reverend , Godly , Learned a and famous Divine '* 
M r . John Am os Com e n ins, one of the 

Scniours of the exiled Church of Motevij®.. v^ 

And now upon thercquejl of many tranflated into Englijh^^ 
publified by Samuel Hartlibj/or the gemrall good of this Nation. 



LONDON, 

Printed fcr Michael Sparke fenior, at tfo;§ 
Blew Bible in Greene Arbor, i 6 4.2. ^^^l 



I 



■Vol.111] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 233 

guages and exhibiting the cardinal points of things 
and of language) . 

[See page 235 below. To this in Vol. II., are annexed Rudi- 
ments of*a Lexicon and Grammar, 1656. Republished at Tubin- 
gen, 1687. See Balbini, Boh. Docta, p. 318. A "Latin and 
German Introductory Lexicon or Sylva of the Latin Language," 
was published at Leszno in 1648, and reprinted at Frankfort by 
Matthew Gotz.] 

4 . — Januae 1 inguarum no vissimae Clavis , Grammatica 
Iyatino-vernacula. . (Key of a new gate to the L,atin 
Language, or Grammar in the L,atin and vernacular 
language, with short commentaries, in which are 
assigned reasons for all changes and emendations 
made in the Grammar) . 

[Published at Leszno, in 1648]. 

5. — Judicia novaeque disquisitiones. (Certain opin- 
ions of the learned respecting these, and new disquisi- 
tions) . 

[Benham mentions also in Vol. II. . "Treatise of the Latin 
Language of the Atrium Court, exhibiting the ornaments 
of things and of languages. "] 

VOL,. III.— (Patak Period, 1650-1654). 

1. — De vocatione in Hungariam relatio. (Brief ac- 
count of a call to Hungary). 

2. — Scholae pansophicae delineatio. (Delineation of a 
Pansophic School, or Workshop of Univeral Wisdom, 
■consisting of seven classes). 

[Sec page 56]. 

3. — De repertis studii pansophici obicibus. (On the 
•obstacles found to the study of the Pansophica, with 
various deliberations as to the means of removing them). 

4. — De ingeniorum cultura. (An oration on the 
culture of innate capacity). 



The Portal to the Gate oETp&gue 



QaatuorEvaflgelift3e,quinqac 

fenfus,fcx profefti dies. 
Septem petitionesin Oratione 

Dominica* 
Ofto dies /one feptimaaa. 
Ter tria funt novem. 
Decern precepca Dei# 
Undecim Apoftoli, ctempto 

Judl 
Duodecim fidei articuli. 
Triginta dies funt menfis. 
Centum annifunt feculum. 
Saranas eft miile frandisHi sr- 

tifex. 



CAP. 4. 
7)erehminfchoU 

SCholafticus freqentar 
fcliolam. 
Quo in arcibus erudiatur. 

Initiumeftaiiteris. 
E fyllabis voces componuntur 
E di&ionibus fermo.' 
Ex libro legimus tacit£. 
Autrecicamus claret 
Involvimus cum membrana 
Et ponimus in pulpito. 
Atramentum eft in acramenta 
rio,in quo tingimus calamum 
Scribimui eo in charta a in 

utraque pagina. 
Si perperam, delemus. 
Et Ggnamus denuo rede a vel 

in margine. 
Dodor docer. 
Difcipulus difcic non omnia 

fimul* fed per partes. 
Przccptor prxcipic factenda. 

8 fftor regis Academiam, |5 



Four EvMgtliftssJiyefenfes t fix 

" working dayes. cc N<* &*fc 

"Seven petitions in tbttora** 1 **^^ 

Prefer* BlfhopfdF* 

Zight dayes m a wife. Landaff i& 

Thrice tb> tem nine. h ?» p cwff 

Ten Commandttnenti ofGod> ^ment o£ 
Eleven ApoftksJudAt btihgtx* the Lords 

cepted. Supper 

Twelve Ankles of the faith. d < vid « 
Thirty dayes are a monetb, 
A hundred years an m tfg?. 
Satan i^ the forger of * tboitfttM 

deceits. 



theaj. 



GHAP. 4. 
Oftfringsinafchool* 



A 



Scholar ficqusntqb- the 
fchoole. 

That be mgfbe inftruUedin tbt 
arts. 

The beginingk from letters. 

words are compefed of (yUth'M. 

4 {fetch of words. 

we nd&fil&ntly out of a hoofa 

Or recite it afoud. 

we wrap it up in parchment.- 

sAnd Uy it m adeslf. 

Jnl{ is in the m^b/m, in wh.ch 
we dip the quill. 

we write with it in paper , on ei- 
ther page. 

Jfbad!y f -web\otitoul. 

And then mar\i it in tbt linear iV 
the m&jent. 

tA teacher Macbeth, 

A fibular k&ntih not altogether, 
but by parti. 

TheMafter eommwcf* things tz 
be dam, (we.. 

Tbt G&vemsr rnlefb'tht Acade- 
E TH 



Vol.ni.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 235 

• 5. — De ingenia colendi primario instrumento Libris. 
(An oration on Books, considered as a primary iiistru- 
ment for the cultivation of the innate capacities) . 

6. — De reperta ad Authores latinos prompte lcgen- 
dos et intelligendos facili, brevi et amoena via Schola 
Triclassi. (A short and pleasant way of learning to 
read and to understand the Latin authors, in a triple 
course of instruction — the Vestibule, the Gate, the 
Court) . 

[Reprinted at Amsterdam in 8 vo, 1657]. 

7. — Eruditionis scholasticae pars I. Vestibulum, 
rerum et linguae fundamenta ponens. (Scholastic 
erudition, part first, the Vestibule laying the founda- 
tions of things and of language). 

[See pages 53, 56, 58, 123, 163, 169, 172, 173-180, 186, 191, 199, 
203, 206. Published in Latin and Hungarian at Patak ; in Latin 
and German at Tubingen, 16S7 ; in Latin and Belgian, with en- 
gravings, at Amsterdam, by John Seidel. (Benham, p. 120). I 
am fortunate enough to own the English edition of the Janua 
referred to by Laurie on page 180, which led Comenius to pre- 
pare the Atictarium, or revised Vestibulum. A fac-simile of 
the title is given on the next page, and on the page following a 
specimen of the text. The reader will not wonder that Come- 
nius desired to make a new book, if this was to be sold under his 
name. Following this " Foundation " comes the Vestibulum 
in its original form, of which a specimen page is given opposite]. 

8. — Eruditionis scholasticae pars II. Janua rerum 
linguarumque structuram externam exhibens. a. Lexi- 
con Januale. b. Grammaticajanualis. c. Janualis rerum 
et verborum contextus, historiolam rerum continens. 
(Scholastic erudition, part second, the Gate ; exhibit- 
ing the structure of things and of language, a. The 



J A H UA 

LING U ARUM 

RESERATA.- 

S I V E, 

Omnium Scientiarum Sc Linguarum 

Se M i N A R ixtM : 

ID EST, 

Compendiofa Latinam &: AngHcam , aliafque 

Linguas & Artiam etiam fund omenta addifcendi me- 

thodu *, una cum januac Latinicaris Veliibulo. 

Ant&re Cl. Viro J. A. CoMENio, 



The Gate of Languages 

UNLOCKED: 

Or 3 a Seed-Plot of all Arts and Tongues $ 
containing a ready way to learn the Latine 
and Englifh Tongue. 

Formerly tranflated by T h o. Hork: afterwards much 
corre&ed and amended by J o h. R o b o t h a m : 
now carefully reviewecf bv W. D. to which is 
premifeda PORTAL. 

As alfo , there is now newly added the Foundation to the 
Jamta^ containing all or the chiefe Primitives of the 
Latine Tongue,drawn into Sentences, in an Alphabe- 
Uticall order by G. P. 



L O K D K, • 

Printed by Edw. Griffin, and WiL Hunt, for Thorn* Slater, and art to bs 
fold by the Company of Stationers, i 6 $ a. 



The Foundation of the Gate of Tongue?: 

t. Feffbs feftina ^ feftivos fochs 
qui ni in ocuk feftucam quidtm vi 



. Fiber in fibris ammum fibras.w?- 
redit , t9* nm fibula AweA donate 
ficubus efl cmttnius} fine fidelia 
Gfpm bskit, nee fidibus g&udens, 
nte fjdem hminuu qtt&rtns; 



ip. Figlt filius turn Bkem cum filo 
\fa famhrija yeJHtj dum fimurn fin- 
dil in $gri Sne> (frfngii m &nimo % 
qubdpotefifen fenilu , qa&mvh 
bonis ed&ribus non fuffiatar j $* fir- 
matus tfl 'minus fifcina, f/isratiij 

la <s&ifef . 



II. Flagitia tu& & me flagkant, non 
vemm fed fiagra : s£S3 floras 
amore illamm quaji flamrem fhva. 
Ntf flefte; flendo ," /c^ infligarc 
pfBnaiyft&ienim &fimul f greet : 
flocci pmdo flores e&* fiorero vini 3 
Tjimm ipfum mdo i etfi fiii&up 
Ucqm&mm fiueretas f# eeafo, gi 
fcifi gJUtmriffi* 



ffi¥C'fa$qM tee fpderersygsi 

1 ^iJR^peffid^rm, uiqms nunc 
' ftfe&i littjf* nonfirirtt ffr cum 
" : ijf& feiiiina ^fntjem fqen;co= 



8. B#«g we**}, ««&« &a/2 ro tfcy asciy 
companion^ ■who, peeping holy-day 
-mil net fee &ny fault m tke(\.e. any 
mote in thine eye.) 

p. 7*£g &«**• in fftf &"/»£* of rivets 
gn&wt the {mnH. thffis &t the roots of 
itee$jLnd having notheflwed en. him 
the golden butt'on(*s tbt RomnSoul- 
ditrs were rewarded} is content -pith 
figii he draws tp*ttr without a fit* 
cbtr, neither taking plexfure in b&rp$ % 
nof defirmg the faith of men* 

lo. Tour Ion ftflens the fern whb.M 
tbnd in tht htm of bti g/trment % wtyle 
be cluvs the dmg i* the md of the 

Jtld t &nd sffurts hmfelf(i.e.f(iJieiS 
in bis mind ) thM it may be mak 
fruitful!, Ihovgh it be mt leeel fenttd 
(though it he not perfumed with gtyd 
odors) end hh minde fa firengihtned 
by bfe h^{et •, tbiugb be doth not *jr.- 
joy agings trttfuci > yet hetbfidm 
not frm fib pipe* '■. * 

n. Tmrofftnces^doe notary o&^fof 
psrf}&ntfme s hHt (irippi fwyo^hujrn 
with k%^Qftikm<i® the fi ! low$a&e. 
Then fh all m^hnd^e by whping % 
km l mil jnjjltcl, pmifbmeni % fyt. 
tbsuMowrp',, md at tbs f^pme 
[upptft (i.e. thou Men&ltfil&.j 
cm tkz.v&tuivf a loci tf'jgoQWffi 
the ti'tg <3?i4 Powr 9 w froth oik$t 
top of thy wine 3 Ih&i raihr fytvc 
the mm u (elf, (i.e. I cm'. net 
far fair (btws, but fms men&mtm) 
iffiouds of tern fhsuld ftoyp from 
f by eyes 9 ifhkld ntf MtUrfffft? 

i«. Wbm l digged this htmthf. found 
itfq ftiatfuU , though I estfpiMtdtt 
foul* tbet who mw vffpuld mi m\t 
& leagte with me f.mdjtj^ughl 
•bat before * wnsan Wtffqtdfmel 
«j^/ Uy> ytt now is. whom is the 

toil 



238 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Vol.111 

Janual Lexicon, b. The Janual Grammar, c. The 
Janual context of things and of words, giving a brief 
account of matters) . 

[Seepages 39-41, 45, 53, 56, 58, 120, 123, 163, 169, 172, 177 
179, 180-188, 199, 203, 207, 224. Published in Latin and Hun- 
garian at Patak ; in Latin only, with engravings, at Schaffhau- 
sen, 1659 ; in Latin and German at Tubingen ; and shortly after- 
ward in Latin and Belgian, at Amsterdam, 'by John Seidel ; also 
at Zullich, in 1734. Balbini, Boh. Docta, p. 318 (Benham, p. 
119). The earliest edition I have of the Janua is the English 
edition of 1633, of which I reproduce the title-page, and a speci- 
men page, on the two pages following. In the Knglish edition 
of 1652, just referred to, Mr. Robotham in the preface to his 
Janua proper, explains so frankly the freedom he has taken 
with the text that I reproduce the last two pages in fac-simile, 
following these of the edition of 1633. The page reproduced 
from the edition of 1633 is thus rendered in this edition of 1652. 

589. Coelebs matrimonium 589. A batchelour [single-man] 
initurus, dispicit sibi quam intending to marry, looks him 
ambiat [prociat] virginem nu- out a marriageable, handsome, 
bilem, elegantem, formosam beautifull maid, with a dowry, 
atque dotatam ; aut viduus to woo ; a widower looks out a 
viduam. Siquis nobilior cum widow, If one of noble birth 
plebeia matrimonium contra- joyns in marriage with a 
hit, conjugio dispari natales woman of the common sort [of 
suos dehonestare [dededocare] the yeomanry], he is thought 
putatur. by an unequall match to dis- 
parage and disgrace his paren- 
tage [family, stock]. 

590. (Dos & forma nonnun- 590. Portion and feature some- 
quam rivales exciunt ; at indo- times stir up fellow-suters to 
tatae, etiam grandiores [grand- the same woman ; but women 
evae] maximam partem man- that have nothing to their por- 
ent innuptae). tion, for the most part remain 

unmarried, even when they 
grow ancient [in years]. 



THEGATE 

OF TONGVES 

VNLOCKEDAND 
OPENED, 

Orclfe, 

A S^minarie or feed-plot of all 
Tongues and Sciences, 

TbatiSi 

A Hiorc way of teadung and thorowty learning 

wichiri a yeere and a halfe at the farthcft,the Latin^Eftglitfi, 

French, and any other tongue, together with the £reimd 

Y .and foundation of Arts and Sciences , comprifed 

under an hundred Tides, 3nd a 

1058. Periods* 

inlatincfirfi 
And now as a token of tharikfulneffe bro|ig&tr$ 

light in Latine, EngUih,andFrench, Inthebei&|feV 
of the moft Uluftrious Prince CtfAR lb*> 
and of Brit i(h, French and Iri& 
Youth. 

The fecond E dition, mucn enlarged. 

3y the labour and induftry of I o hn AtfCHQ a an^ 
Licentiate m Divinity # 

LO : HpoH> 

Printed by T^.CWx, tot'Thems Stetr^yfcX* 

ling at th« Whisc Swan* in ducfriUne. i$H? : 



? - "KjBSERATA ET a&ERTA. l $*r\ 

e 1 1 % Unfile man* 6n gu'iwfninegafJ 



?*b 1 i Mammoniu 
ini turuj celebs, in- 
nuptusstiifpicit; fibi 



6$ s feac!jelsc& bfgsU o« m jeuwe Homme 



tma marls§e, iooHf • 



«4ws mark, voulani 



quamaaabiat wrg ine ; 5i f » manage, M0M« conmfter m&iage 
nubifcm* an viduusM^wn^^fj/e^ei a qui Ufa 



vkbam. 



612 Bos &fomu 
toonnunquamr.valcJ««- 
amantes q*«qnt 



ftfeam Sjg sua? fee 
8e> a ■ asntag&sbis 
&&gm,mait&, Sams 
fell, Gi%S®h%mw t 

6i% Wmikm® 



6%i Procus cum 
obtinetuteideipon- 
deatnr a fit fponfus , 

& qus mibitgtpGofa: 
lie •Tuu'm paraaym- 
phura feu proaabum, 
ha?c fuas proiuibas 
liabct. 



6( 4 A 
& ulor 
poftridie 
unt. 



gard&i a quiilftra 

ceffeou Merge mari- 
able, ou efiant Vtf, 
a tins Vefoe. 

€i% Le 7)Quair € > 






umtmw* 



6i? # t^@g? 

8SI& @ite» bit 



litat sushis^, o?f8 
affjbotjfe^featbljis 



/o/i <fes Amoureux, 
des Rivaux, Com- 
vaux ^ Servitmn, 
6i 5 I'^mourmx 
gu&nd ifoktieatqu'on 
lu)i aQ$&tdz fon A- 
mourettfet mfa Mai 
fftejfe* devient le 
Fianci) (f&'&jpoux 
(fceMequife^iarie 
la FiG®cm? I'Ejpaupi 
cetup-la a f&n par&\ 
Hymphs & conduBeun 



nupttii vtr 

dicumuc, 
repotia fi= 



6 1 f Qumatam,fi- 
ham elocavit, foccr 



•twnrriag8,ft»to25, * J 
61^. merer fee?J '*4 -fpwfeif^p. 

be a Iwfcsufc finm^*™ C & Fetntne 
totfg: t$e gcgt taw'e lendemain o n f&tt 
Bttztllt&W^ Wtifoun fccond Banquet, 
b*nqosJtt?g8 fe-a 



haiUfaF'ilktn Ma- 
L4 



taenia Dans^fsr> 



To the Reader. 



0)(b)Src. 
4*^)fometims 3 



latlm wants a proper word to point out fome thing 
which our Engtijb doth properly exprefs ; in thefe 
or the like cafes , be that is (crupnlous of repeating 
the fame word, mall finde his fuperftition to run him 
perforce on a rvor(e inconvenience *, to wit, either often- 
times to fpeak non-fenfe *, or fometimes to omit that 
which is fit to be inferted. Much it were to be wifhed, 
that He which could do fo much in {bidding out the 
firft draught, would h'imklk pohfb it with his own pencil* 
for although I have attempted fomething this way (as 
may appear in part in this Edition; yet a little experi- 
ence taught me, that none is fitter to finim thefeveral 
rooms i then he that firft contrived the whole model.JLa* 
fie it is to fpy out fome few defers * but how to fupply 
them without wronging the Auto*$ intent, or tranfgre^ 
fing thokrults to which he hath confined his courfe, is a 
task of more difficulty then at firft it fcerns. Which made 
me more fparing in tampering with the text, (as being 
loath f&lcem irnmittere in alienam mejfem^ unlefs I knew the 
owners minde) and rather bold with marginal annotati- 
ons;fome whereof tend to \ explain what is obfcore,fome 
to *mafy eut what is wanting. 
The Tranflatm drive's not to render the latinc <d ver- 
bum fa task fitter to be left to the marWs care and the 
fcholar's induftry)but truly to exprefs the sutfr** mean- 
ing in ftich proper words and current phrafes, a§ an E»g- 
\%§i-mm wil own .• and therefore in fome places I have 
been bolcl to change the Latine(althsugh it was well be- 
fore) onely to have ft comply tfec better with good Eng« 
Jiiii s and that, Firft , for the benefit of @r&t^rs § that 
look what help the erigmd affoord's to the attainment of 
Letine, the fame may forreiners, that defire to learn our 
language, finde in this trmfttifon \ to wit s all our molt 
ufnal Attglicifffis, and the maine body of our tongue com- 
prifed within the fmal bulk of this little Treatife. 2. To 
inure a young fchokr tjet/smes to a right proper Englifh 
ftraine ; which is far more 4'»rT3cuSr,shen to bombsft m af- 
fected ftile with exotick flaring phrafe? p or to make \tfivHt 
with boifterous Man knguage* It is meet folly to be 
curious and expert in fenrem cunning , and be aftranger 
at home: and it fhxmU fee the care of every te®dier> at 
wet to aecuftome a cS?Hde betimes to the practice of good 
Mgffii®Q$ godtam > our nmbet-mgut being likely 



to the Reader,. 

(in the practice) to be moft nfeful , and being indeed 2s 
^apgbleas any fcholar-like impreflions , andaspliabk 
fo any kinde of elegancies, as any whatfocver. 3. By 
daismeanstodire&a ftudent to the readier cxpreflion 
of proper Latine : for he that in confirming an autor go- 
cth to work onely f vtrb*ttm 9 wd ftrain's his own tongue 4.^ g© 
fo to jump with the Latine, that his very Engliff is but a Anglo. J. 
hatinifm in Engiifh wordy *, when after he meet's with 
^efame fence in more parable Englilh* and is to turne 
it into Latine > although he know*s the word that would 
indeed ferve his turn, yet having never met with it in 
that Engiifh habit , but iaa balder drtfs , he is as far to 
feck, as if he had never feen t that word before. Whereas 
be that obferv's the idioms , peculiar to two languages, 
takers the right courfcro beeexacl: in the propriety of 
bstb. Engiifh terms, which found neare the Latine, are of 
purpofe put by, * that there might be roome for other * £ xe 
more proper and bom-bred j becaufe the letim it fe!fe,if f « ** 
once known, will foon prompt a man with fuch (pwioiu *!**f* 
fsglijbi as (like a Jtfmt) jet's in a new Engiifh habit, Irot-JJJJJJ 
is for fubftance Romijb. Words inclofcd in two (emi- 
quadms [] (whether in the original or tranflation ) are 
fywym to the word precedent , and may be ufed indif* 
terently in the fame fignification. 

f hefc rudiments being thus laid, what advantage may 
hence rife to the furtherance of youth, and prevention of 
much necdlefs trouble, I leave to the witnefs of thofe 
that have had experience, and the trial of fuch as wil 
put in tsre : not doubling but the plot it felfe wil thrive> 
being thus far advanced , although the prefent undtrta- 
\ers faile of full performance. Free it is for every man 
tomiflikewhathepleafeth j provided that hchimfelfc 
corameth out with feme device .which with as great pro- 
bability of reafon may more conduce to publick good. 

JOH. ROBOTHAM* 



W ft f ANUA 



Vol.ni.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMKNIUS 243 

To show further how many changes were made in the various 
editions, I will give the same paragraphs from an edition pub- 
lished in Faris, 1815, by Jean-Fran cois-Bastien. The contras-t 
in the French translation from that of 1633 is quite interesting. 

589. Matrimonium in i t u r u s 589. Le celibitaire qui veut se 
coelebs seu innuptus, despicit marier, cherche une fille nu- 
sibi quam ambiat et prociat bile, bien faite, belle, ay ant de 
virginem nubilem, elegant em, la forLune, a laquelle il puisse 
formosam, atque dotatam, at s'unir, et en fait la demande ; 
viduus, viduam. mais le veuf, recherche une 

veuve. 

590. Dos et forma nonnun- 590. La dot et la beaute attir- 
quam rivales et coamantes ent quelquefois des rivaux. 
exciunt. 

Other editions hardly worthy of special mention are the 6th 
English edition, 12 mo, pp*. 374, London, 1643; an edition in 
Latin, English, and Greek, 12 mo, with plates, London, 1662 ; 
and another in Latin, French and Greek, 8vo, Amsterdam, 
1665]. 

9. — Eruditionis scholasticae pars III. Atrium 
rerum etlinguarum ornamenta exhibens. (Scholastic 
erudition, part third, exhibiting the ornaments of 
things and of the I^atin language) . 

[See pages 54, 58, 169, 172, 188-190, 199, 207. Also of Pala- 
tium and Thesaurus, (163, 180), 123, 163, 170. Of Auctarium, 
161, 180. Published at Patak in 8 vo, and at Nuremberg by the 
Endters, 1655]. 

10. — Fortius redivivus, sive de pellenda Scholis ig- 
navia. (Fortius reanimated, or Idleness driven from 
the Schools). 

[See quotation from Fortius, page 168. Referring to the well- 
known treatise of Joachim Fortius Ringelbergius (1500-1536) 
De Ration e Studii, of which an English translation by G. B. 
Earp (12 mo, pp. 171) was published in London i 1 1830, and in 
Philadelphia (16 mo, pp. 103) in 1847]. 



JOH. AM#$€OMENII 

Oft BIS SEN- 

SUALIUM PICTUS 

QqADRJ[EINGUIS, 

Omnium hmdanreratahdm fnimmdo rcrum , & its*, 
vkaa^lionma, 

GEK.MA'Nl'CA.LATfNA; ITAOCA, 

CtimTiPHlorum juxta , ^t^A^ukrum Indke^. 




Cum Gratia & Pri'vil. Sac C&f. Maje/tatts % & SeremfJ. 

EleHorU Saxcni-ct, 



NO&LBEKG&,. , 
Sumtibus Michaelis& Joh. Fride k Yc : jhf£'N dteroru m, 
Anno Saiuds cl j lb e LXXIX^ 



Vol.in.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 245 

1 1 . — Praecepta tnorum in usum Juventutis collecta. 
(Moral precepts for the use of youth) . 

[Published in 8 vo, at Patak, 1653]. 

1 2 . — Leges bene ordinatae scholae. (Laws of a well- 
regulated school). 

[Published in 8 vo, at Patak]. 

13. — Orbis SKnsuauum pictus. (Pictured World 
of Sensible Objects ; or Illustration of the Vestibule 
and Gate of the Latin language). 

[See pages 56, 190-192, 204. Also Barnard's Journal of Edu- 
cation, vi. 585 ; xxviii, 859. Only an announcement here. Ben- 
ham says (p. 119): "This was translated into English by 
Charles Hoole, who dated his preface " From my school in 
Iyothbury, London, Jan. 25, 1618,' i. <?., old style. The nth 
edition is dated in 1727 ; the 12th in 1777, and -was by Wm. 
Jones, of Pluckley. There was one edition published in 1672, 
and one in 1689. Chalmers' Biogi. Diet, has a short notice of Mr. 
Hoole, Vol. xvii, pp. 144, 145." 

The earliest edition I have is that of 1679, of which the title is 
reproduced on the opposite page. The 151 chapters occupy 603 
gages, to which are added a preface of 32 pages, a " title-regis- 
ter " of n pages, a " word-register " of 48 pages, and an " index- 
vocabularum " of 280 pages, making altogether a thick volume 
of 974 pages, bound in vellum. The plates are in minute de- 
tail the same as those in my reprint of 1887 (taken from the 
English edition of 1777), except that the plate for the Introduc- 
tion instead of being the same as that for 151 is different, repre- 
senting the master sitting in a chair. The plate for 4 (Coelum) 
is omitted, (see notice of. next edition), and that for 94 is re- 
versed. In this edition what is 106 in my edition precedes 105, 
and the two hemispheres are printed in reversed order. But 
otherwise the plates are identical, and although this Nurem- 
berg edition is in capital condition, the pictures are not, on the 
average, any clearer than those in my reprint. 

The next Nuremberg edition I have is that of 1746, of which 



JOH. AMOS COMENII" 




SENSUALIUM PJCTI 

dtnub audti 6c nova cura emenda^ 

PARS ' SMCVNDJ, 

CL. Figure kftru&a & illuftrata, 
G^W heneficio Tyrmihks 

facillima methodo 8c fumma voluptate ipgeos 
elegantiumPhrafisim acrariflimorumTcrminorum 

Araumin PRIMA PARTE noil emntmnij copia 
inftillari poteftj 

6>ttihu$ varia MOR$.LIA 4d emend&fkmm & 

dek&&tionem anim? facientia , adjeSaJknt* 
Cum INDICE locupletiffimo, 

tnif isagigjwn exlhttti, u*D bhx®ae§mWwf &8# fargflKJigflt 
Vtritttttelfi wfcfe*itr jtitfgt« Nearest 

wf tint m IMtt Sfttimb mit drfrfierSufi/ eine 

ffiw in Mtaffyumtym Mhnften, Mb £an Werungen tin £>it?g 
eiQtntlify &u gekn/ mb in bcm ikvflen&bul nifyt 
m Mmt bewtoafyt miben tan ; 
ctntn nocfe fewer m flfcbaisisng nn$ ^ErgogiuKt 

Pes (Bemuts «tel?anD snenlicbe bitten *£c&feK 

beygefuget n>ort>eii. 

Sfabf? «Re'm meitlnuffdgfn 0ftgiffttV 

C«w Gratia (5 Pri-uil. Sacr. Caf. Majeftatis^ 6 Ser sniff. 
Regi s Poiov, atqtte Eletloris Saxon. 

" NORISEkGiE,' '" "■"' * 

Sumtib&s Joh. Andr. Endterj fifiRjeomtf- 

Anno SaJuas.MDQQaV. 



Vol.ni.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COM3 XIUS 247 

I reproduce on the opposite page the title page of the second 
volume. For the book is now extended to two volumes of 446 
and 512 pages, respectively. The first volume contains the 
usual 151 lessons, gives the same plate as the 1679 edition for 
the introduction, but curiously enough, repeats that plate in- 
stead of giving the other for 151. As in the 1679 edition, the 
figure is omitted from 4 (Coelum), but the reason appears in a 
leaf prefixed to the second title, which gives the same plate as in 
my reproduction, but with the place in the centre for the earth 
left blank, and the little circle of the earth itself below, with this 
explanation : "This larger figure belongs to the tenth page, in 
which the white centre space being cut out, the smaller figure 
may be fitted into the middle, and so laid on the larger that we 
can turn the larger around under the smaller figure "—a primi- 
tive attempt at a planetarium. For 43 (the soul of man) an en- 
tirely new representative is given, so different from the original 
that I here reproduce it. This is the change of which Von 
Raumer complains. 









Cornix cornicatur, a a 

The Crow crieth. 

Agnus balat, Hee 

The Lamb blaiteth. 

Cicada stridet, ci ci 

The Grasshopper chirpeth. 

Upupa dicit, dudu 

The Whooppoo saith. 

Infans ejulat, eee 

The Jjtfant crieth. 

Ventus flat,. fi fi 

The Wind blow eth. 

Anser gingrit, ga ga 

The Goose gagleth. 

Os halat, ha'h ha/h 

The Mouth breatheth out. 

Mus mintrit, i i i 

The Mouse chirpeth. 

Anas tetrinnit, kha, kha 
The Duck quaketh. 

Lupus ululat, lu ulu 

The Wolf howelth. 

[mum 
Ursus murmurat, mum- 
The Bear grumbleth. 



Aa 

B b 

Cc 
D d 
Ee 

Ff 

&g 

Hh 
Ii 
Kk 
L 
M m 



Vol.ni.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COM^NIUS 249 

The second volume is, of course, entirely new matter, and 
gives another 150 chapters. We have the Singer, the Organist, 
the Dancing-Master, the Jeweler, the Sculptor, even the Anchor- 
Maker, the Cannon-Firer, and the Poet, with early attempts at 
the Fire-Cracker (101), and a genuine Billiard-table (137). But 
the interest of this added volume is entirely cyclopaedic. It 
gives one hundred and fifty entertaining pictures of customs and 
manners of the time, but it is pedagogically only a weak imita- 
tion of a sound idea. 

The English edition of 1777 I reproduced in 1887, and copies 
may still be had at $3,00 each. I give a specimen page oppo- 
site. This is the second American edition, for a reprint of the 
twelfth English edition was published in New York in 1810, 
"printed and sold by T. & J. Swords, No. 160 Pearl-street." The 
cuts are all new, evidently engraved here, and in some instances 
modernized, as for instance 58 (a feast), which might have been 
given on the Battery in 1810. As a specimen of this edition I re- 
produce below the picture corresponding with 98 (a school) 
in my edition. 




I have an interesting edition of the Orbis, published in St. 
Petersburg in 1808. The text is in Latin, Russian, and Ger- 



250 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Op.Onu 

man, and the cuts are all hand-printed on inserted paper. Only- 
eighty chapters are given, and the cuts show many changes 
from the originals, as in that of the Heaven, here reproduced. 



C o-eliuru 



II Le Ciel 




5Def p'tmind 



Hebo 



The cuts all give the title in French, as well as in the other 
three languages. In the preface to my edition of the Or&is, I 
speak of a Vienna edition, 1779, with only 82 plates, but with a 
curious additional cut of the Heaven. An edition with the 151 
plates was published at Magdeburg in 1723. The eleventh 
English edition (16 mo, pp. 200) was published in 1728. The 
fifth edition of a book edited by J. K. Gailer was published at 
Reutlingen in 1842 with the title : " Neuer Orbis pictus fur die 
Jugend oder Schauplatz der Natur, der Kunst u. des Menschen- 



VoLtv.] educational bibliography of comenius 251 

lebens in 322 lithograbbldgn. mit genauer Erklar. in deutscher, 
lat.,franz., engl. u. ital. Sprache nach der fruh. Anlage des Co_ 
menius bcarbeitet." 

In England books in imitation of the Orbis finally came to 
omit the name of Comenius altogether. Thus we have " The 
London Vocabulary, English and Latin, put into a new Method, 
proper to acquaint the learner with Things as well as pure Latin 
Words. Adorned with 26 Pictures for the use of Schools," by 
James Greenwood, based on the method of Comenius, but criti- 
cizing it. The 23d edition of this little book (24 mo, pp. 123) 
was published in London in 1797. 

Mr. Greenwood also wrote the preface to the first edition of 
"The London and Paris Vocabulary, English, Latin and French; 
designed for the use of schools. The English and Latin from 
the 25th London edition ; the French by N. Faucon, author of 
Chambaud's French Grammar and Exercises abridged," an edi- 
tion of which (12 mo, pp. 112) was published in Cambridge, 
Mass., in 1816. The two volumes last named may be found in 
the library of Harvard University]. 

T.^—Schola Ludus: hoc est, Januae linguarum 
praxis comica. (Scholastic Play, or Comic Praxis of 
the Gate of languages) . 

[See pages 56, 57, 61, 192-194, 208. Published at Patak in 
1655 ; and at Amsterdam in 1656, by Abraham a Burg]. 

i 5> — I^aborum scholasticorumin Hungaria obitorum 
Coronis. (Cornice or conclusion of Scholastic Labors 
discharged in Hungary. A valedictory Oration). 

[See pages 58, 59. Benham adds also, " 16. The Blessed 
Guard, or Army of good deeds of a Holy Soul, entering the 
Eternal Kingdom with triumph ; being a funeral Oration on the 
aeath of Lewis de Geer, senior]. 

VOL,. IV. — {Amsterdam Period, 1654- 165 f). 

r . — Vita gyrus, sive de occasionibus vitae, et quibus 
Autorem in Belgium deferri, iterumque ad intermissa 



252 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Op.Om. 

didactica studia redire contigit. (Life a Gyration ; or 
an account of circumstances by which it happened that 
the author was carried to Belgium and then returned 
to resume his interrupted didactic studies) . 

2.— Parvulis parvulus. 

[See full title and translation, page 179. Published in 8 vo, 
at Amsterdam] . 

3. — Apologia pro Latinitate Januae Comenianae. 
(Apology for the Latinity of the Gate of Comenius). 

[See page 61. Published in 8 vo, at Amsterdam]. 

4. — Ventilabrum sapientiae, sive sapienter sua ret- 
tractandi ars. (Wisdom's Winnowing Fan ; or the 
art of wisely reviewing one's own opinions. To which 
is annexed a short review of all the author's Didactic 
writings, with corrections). 

[See pages 62, 179, 194]. 

5. — B labyrinthis scholasticis exitus. 

[For full title and translation, see p. 63]. 

6. — Latium redivivum, hoc est, de forma latinissimi 
Collegii, sen novae romanae civitatulae; ubi latina lin- 
gua usu et consuetudine ut olim, melius tamen quam 
olim, addiscatur. (Latin resuscitated ; or Form of a 
purely Latin College, or of a new little Roman state ; 
where the Latin language may be learned by constant 
use as formerly, yet better than formerly). 

7. — Typographeum vivum, hoc est : ars compendiose 
et tamen copiose ac eleganter sapientiam non chartis, 
sed ingeniis imprimendi. (The living Printing Press ; 
or art of impressing Wisdom compendiously, yet 



Vol.iv.] KDUCATIONAI, BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 253 

copiously and elegantly, not on paper, but in the 
mind). 

[See page 65]. 

8. — Paradisus ecclesiae reductus ; hoc est optimus 
scholarum status, ad primaeparadisiacaescholaeideam 
delineatus. (The Paradise of the Church restored ; or 
best condition of Schools ; delineated according to the 
idea of the first paradisaical school). 

[See page 66]. 

9. — Traditio lampadis, hoc est studiorum sapientiae 
christianaeque juventutis et scholarum, Deoethomini- 
bus devota commendatio. (Tradition of the Lamp ; or 
a devout commendation of the study of Wisdom , and 
of the Christian youth and of schools, to God and man ; 
thus placing the Cornice, as it were, on the edifice of 
Didactic study). 

[See page 66] . 

10. — Paralipomena didactica. (Didactic after- ' 
thoughts.) 



PaedagogischeSchriften, Uebersetzt und mit Anmer- 
kungen und des Comenius Biographie versehen von 
Th. Lion. [Published (i6mo, pp. 543) at Langen- 
salza] . 

Ausgewaehlte Schriften. Mutterschule, Pansophie, 
Pangnosie, etc. Uebersetzt und mit Erlaeuterungen 
versehen von Ju. Beeger und Johann Leutbecher. 
[Published (8 vo, pp. 375) at Leipzig]. 



Porta Sapientiae reserata, seu nova et compendiosa 
methodus omnes artes ac scientias addiscendi. (The 



THE 

True and Readie Way 

To Learne the 

L AT I NE TONGUE. 

A ttcfted by • Three E xeeiiently Learned 

and Approved Authours of Three Nations: 

/ Eilbardm Lnbitm> a German 3 
F j Z \$A r i Richard CareiP, of Anthony in 

| Cornwall^ 

^The French Lord of- zSM ontaigm. 

Prefented to the Vnpartiailyboth Publick 

and Private Considerations of thofe that feck the 

Advancement <*f L E A R N 1 N <3 in thefe 

■N A t, I o % s. 

By 'Samuel Hartlib 3 EJq; 

LONDON 
Printcdby E, and W. Leybourn for the Common-wcakh 
of turnings MDCLIV. 



Works.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMKNIUS 255 

Gate of Wisdom opened ; or a new and compendious 
method of acquiring the knowledge of all arts and 
sciences) . 

[Published at Oxford in 1637, London, 1639. (Benham, p. 52)]. 

Illustris Scholae Patakinae Idea. 

[Seepage 56]. 

Pansophicae classibus septem adornandae Delineatio. 

[Seepage 56]. 

Synoposis Novissimae Methodi. 

[See page 61]. 

Informatorium Scholae Maternae. 

[Seepage 142]. 

De La tinae linguae studio perfecte instituendo Dis-. 
sertatio Didactica. 

[See page 211. Published in 1637. We give opposite the 
title of the work of Lubinus, referred to on pp. 10, 35, 155, 160]. 

Primitiva Latinae Linguae. 

[In Latin, German and French, with 71 plates on copper. 
Small 8 vo, Nuremberg, 1736] 

Grammaticae facilioris praecepta. 

[Published at Prague, 1616. See p. 31]. 

Pansophiae diatopsis, Ichnographica et Orthograph- 
ica. (Table of contents of the Pansophia.) 

[See pages 52, 63. Publishedat Dantzig, 1643. Benham says 
(p. 159) that in 1702, Prof. Buddaeus of Halle, published a work 
containing a portion of Comenius's Opus Pansophicum, en- 
titled Panegersia, seu dererum humanorum emendatione. (Uni- 
versal science, or concerning the Improvement of Human 
Affairs)]. 

Letter to Montanus, Dec. 10, 1661. 

[Published in 24 mo, at Amsterdam, 1662.] 



256 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Biog. 

Natural philosophy reformed by divine light : or a 
synopsis ofphysicks : exposed to the censure of those 
that are lovers of learning, and desire to be taught of 
God. Being a view of the world in general, and of the 
the particular creatures therein contained ; grounded 
upon scripture principles. With a brief appendix 
touching the diseases of the body, mind, and soul ; 
with their general remedies. 

[Published (24 mo, pp. 256) in London, 1651. See page 45, 
where it is said to have been originally published in 1633]. 

Comenius's Revelation Revealed by two Apocalypti- 
cal Treatises, translated out of the High Dutch, with 
a Dedication to Oliver St. John by Sam. Hartlib, and 
a long Discourse by John Durie. 

[Published in 12 mo, London, 165 1]. 

Biography and Criticism. 

Pedagogical Biography, No. 2. John Amos Co- 
menius. By R. H. Quick, (16 mo. pp. 26). Syracuse, 
1886. .15. 

[Chapter III., of his " Educational Reformers."] 

Bbnham, Daniel. The School of Infancy. An 
essay on the Education of Youth, during the first Six 
Years. By John Amos Comenius. To which is pre- 
fixed a sketch of the Life of the Author. London, 
1858. Cloth, 12 mo, pp. 168-75. Portrait. 5.00. 

Hark, J. M. The Private Life and Personal Char- 
acteristics of John Amos Comenius. (Pp. 196-204 of 
Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of 
the National Educational Association for 1892). 



Biog.] EDUCATIONAL BIBEIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 257 

Vrbka, Anton. Leben mit Shicksale des Johann 
Amos Comenius. Mit Bentmtzung derbesten Qnellen 
dargestellt. 17 111. Znaim, 1892. 1.00. 

Seyffarth, L. W. J. A. Comenius, nach seinem 
Leben und seiner paedagogischen Bedeutung. Leip- 
zig, 1 87 1. 

Mencik, Ferdinand. Jan Amos Komensky. Zivo- 
topisny Nastin k Tristalete Pamatce Jeho Narozeni. 
8vo, pp. 47, 8 ill. Prague, 1892. .25. 

[See also von Raumer's Geschichte der Paedagogik, ii. 48-100; 
a translation will be found in Barnard's American Journal of 
Education, v. 257-298. See quotation, page 70. See also pp. 
148-166 of Williams's History of Modern Education ; pp. 122- 
137 of Compayre's History of Pedagogy (Payne's translation), 
and pp. 256-264 of Vol. I. , of his Histoire Critique des Doctrines de 
l'Education. Brief notices will be found on pp. 56-68 (English 
edition) of Browning's Educational Theories, on pp. 13, 14 of 
Gill's Systems of Education, and on pp. 203-216 of Paroz's His- 
toire Universelle de la Pedagogie, See also the following :] 

Bayee'S Historical and Critical Dictionary. Lon- 
don, 1735. 

["Bayle's treatment of Comenius shows a complete misap- 
prehension of his character. ' ' Page 68] . 

MiCHEEET's Nos Fils. Paris, 1887. 

Carpzov's Religionsuntersuchung der Boehmischen 
und Maehrischen Brueder. 

Peitt's Contribution to the History of the Unity ot 
the Brethren. 1828. 

PESCHECk's Reformation and Anti-Reformation in 
Bohemia. London, 1845, (2 vols., 8 vo). 

Gindeey's Ueber des J. A. Comenius' s Leben und 



258 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Crit. 

Wirksamkeit in der Fremde. (Proceedings Vienna 
.Academy of Science, 1855). Revidierter abdruck, 
Znaim. 1892. 1.00. 

Cranz's Histories of the Brethren. London, 1780. 

Piearz and Morairtz's History, political and ec- 
desiatical, of Moravia. Brunn. 1785-1787. 

Rkgknvolscius'S Historical and Chronical Con- 
spectus of the Slavonian Churches. Utrecht, 1652. 



Buteer, Nicholas Murray The place of Comenius 
in the History of Education, 16 mo, pp. 20. Syracuse, 
1892. .15. 

Maxwell, W. H. The Text-Books of Comenius. 
With portrait, and 2 7 cuts from the Orbis Pictuz. 8 vo. 
pp. 30. Syracuse, 1892. ■ .25. 

[The two papers named above were read at the meeting in 
Peb., 1892, of the Department of Superintendence of the Na- 
tional Educational Association, Brooklyn, N. Y.] 

Laurie, S. S. The place of Comenius in the His- 
tory of Education. 

Bardeen, C. W. The Text-Books of Comenius. 

Hanus, Paul H. The Permanent Influence of Co- 
menius. 

[The three papers named above appeared in the Educational 
jReview for March, 1892.] 

Comenius, the Encyclopaedist and Founder of 
Method. (In London Journal of Education , March 1, 
1892). 

Free, Heinrich. Die Paedagogik des Comenius. 
Theorie und praxis des Unterrichts nach Comenius' 



Grit.] EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS 259 

Grundsaetzen, mit besonderer Beruechsichtigung des 
erstenSchuljahres. 8vo,pp. 83. Bernberg, 1884. 1.00. 
Leutbecher, J. Joh. Amos Comenius' Lehr- 
kunst. Nach ihrer Gedankenfolgedargestellt. 8vo, pp. 
165. Leipzig. 

Pappenheim, Bugen. Amos Comenius, der Be- 
gruender der neuen Paedagogik. Berlin, \:87i. 

SeyffarTh, L. W. J. A. Comenius, nach seinem 
Leben und seiner paedagogischen Bedeutung. Leipzig, 
1871. 

Criegern, H. F., von. JohannAmos Comenius als 
Theolog. Kin Beitrag zur Comeniusliteratur. 8vo, pp. 
397. Leipzig, 1 88 1. 2.00 

Beitrage zur Paedagogie. Ueber die historische 
Darstellung der paedagogischen Ideen, mit besonderer 
Beziehung auf Rousseau und Comenius. Lowenberg, 
1875. 

Hoffmeister, Herm. Comenius und Pestalozzi als 
Begruender der Volksschule, wissenschaftlich darges- 
tellt. 8 vo, pp. 96. Berlin, 1877. 

Boetticher, Wilhelm. Die Brziehung des Kindes 
in seinen ersten sechs Jahren, nach Pestalozzi, und 
nach Comenius. Znaim, 1892. .25. 

Castens, A. Ueber " Eins ist noth (unum neces- 
sarium)" von Comenius. Znaim, 1892. .25. 

[See page 70]. 

Was muss uns veranlassen, im Jahre 1892, 

das Andenken des Amos Comenius festlich zumachen. 
8 vo, pp. 25. Znaim, 1892. .25. 

Comenius als Kartograph seines Vaterlandes. Mit 



260 EDUCATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COMENIUS [Crit 

einem Neudruck der Karte von Maenren des Comenius 
in der Ausgabe vom Jahre 1645. Znaim, 1892. 1.00. 



Monatsheft der Comenius -Gesellschaft. 
[The first number appeared in March, 1892, at Leipzig. The 
annual subscription price is ten marks ($2.50)]. 



INDEX 



Academia, see University. 
Aims and motives, Conienius's 

defence of his own, 67. 
Alsted, Professor, early teacher 

of Comenius, 29. 
Al varus, Latin Grammar of, 

159- 

Amsterdam, city of, 60,. 69; Co- 
menius expresses his grati- 
tude to, 68. 

Analogy, Comenius's use of, in 
exposition, 62, 105 ; from the 
carpenter's trade, 116 ; some- 
times fanciful use of, through- 
out the Great Didactic, 105 ; 
see Syncretism, 

Analysis, as a method of ascer- 
taining tru'h, 62 ; with syn- 
thesis, part of a perfect disci- 
pline in an art, 119 ; how 
employed in study of Latin, 
170. 

Andreas, Valentinus, on teach- 
ing of Latin, 35, 36. 

Apprentices, pupils considered 
as, to an art, 116. 

Aquinas, St. Thomas, and the 
Jesuit reaction, 18. 

Arabic, a necessary language 
for physicians, 119. 

Aristotle, his influence in the 
Universities, 17 ; Latin trans- 
lation of, from the Arabic 
formerly in use, 18 ; quoted 
on abuse of self-consistency, 
62 ; to be taught by an epi- 
tome, 217. 



Arithmetic, how to be taught 
in the Mother School, 140. 

Arnoldus, Nicholas, 68. 

'Arts,' what Comenius ' *eans 
by the term, 115. 

the seven liberal, taught 

in the Gymnasium, 147. 

Ascham, his influence o n 
grammar schools, 16; as a 
critic of Method, 35. 

Associated words, principle of, 
177. 

Astronomy, Comenius's treat- 
ise on, 45. 

Atrium Linguce Latincz, Com- 
enius's, 54. 

Atrium, the third Latin Text- 
book, 188-190. 

Attention, means of sustaining, 
in pupils, 100. 

Auctarium, sequel to the Ves- 
tibulum, 61, 180. 

Augustine quoted, 64. 

Bacon, Lord, his Advance- 
ment of Learning, 19 ; his 
Org anon, 19 ; his study of 
Nature, 19 ; the father of 
Realism, 21; impression of 
his Instauratio Magna on 
Comenius, 43, 44 ; his idea 
of a ' universal college,' 48 ; 
his general influence on Com- 
enius, 73, 218. 

Bayle, in his Dictionary , mis- 
apprehends Comenius's 
character, 68. 



(261) 



262 



UtfE AND WORKS OF COMENIUS 



Bnin, Chr. op, de, 54. 

Bodinus, his work stirs up 
Comenius, 33 ; on teaching 
of Latin, 35. 

Bohemian Brethren, see Mora- 
vian, 25. 

Bibliography, 227-260. 

Bourignon, Madame, 55. 

Budaeus, 11. 

Building, love of, to be fostered 
in children, 142. 

Buildings, scale of school, 199. 

Cai^vin, 11. 

Campanella, Thomas, his influ- 
ence on Comenius, 43. 

Caselius, 161. 

Celsus, 170. 

Challenges, from one boy to 
another, 107. 

Chaucer, 9, 11. 

Chastisement, corporal, 165. 

Chelsea College, 49. 

Chronology, rudiments of, to 
be taught in Mother School, 
140. 

Church, the, follows,' and does 
not lead, in scientific, philo- 
sophical, and. religious pro- 
gress, 20. 

mediseval ; its attitude 

towards the humanistic 
movement, 12. 

Church Reformers, their atti- 
tude to humanistic move- 
ment, 12 ; they aim at uni- 
versal instruction , 12. 

Class - books, i n vernacular 
school, 145. 

Class-room, walls of, to be 
painted with Latin declen- 
sions, etc., 206. 

Colet, his influence over Gram- 
mar schools, 16. 

Collegium Didacticum pro- 
jected, 47, 152. 



Columella, to be studied for 
Economics, 170. 

Comenius (Komenski), John 
Amos, his birth and family, 
25 ; a Sclav by origin and lan- 
guage, 26 ; early education, 
27 ; begins Latin in his six- 
teenth year, 27 ; Moravian in 
heart and soul, 28 ; barely 
appreciated Humanism, 28 ; 
at College of Herborn in Nas- 
sau, 28 ; attracted to Ratich's 
scheme, 30; appointed to 
school at Prerau (1614) 30; 
complains of bad method of 
teaching Latin, 30; simplifies 
the Latin Grammar, 31 ; pub- 
lishes Grammaticcefacilioris 
prczcepta in 1616 ; ordained 

' to the church of Fulneck, 
1618 ; 31 ; his marriage, 31 ; 
loses library and MSS., 32; 
writes Labyrinth of the 
World, 32 ; loses his wife and 
only child, 32 ; writes rules 
of method for John Stadius, 
32 ; determines to devote his 
life to the service of the 
young, 33 ; takes refuge from 
fresh troubles in Poland, 34 ; 
publishes his Seminary of 
Tongues and all Sciences, 
40; his Vestibulum in 1633, 
41 ; chosen Bishop of the 
Scattered Brethren, 41 ; visits 
London, 48 ; summing up of 
his life's aim and character, 
67 ; his second marriage, 68 ; 
his family, 68 ; death, 69 ; 'an 
Apostle ad gentes minutuias' 
— boys and girls, 70 ; his 
merit in relating virtue to 
knowledge, 218. 

Comna, or Comnia, possible 
birth-place of Comenius, 25. 



INDEX 



263 



Composition, one of the ' Arts ' 

with Comenius, 115. 
Conatuum pansophicorum, etc. 

47- 

Conversation, use of, in learn- 
ing Latin, 160. 

Cyrillus, Joh., 68. 

Czech, or Bohemian, language 
spoken by Comenius, 26 ; his 
Great Didactic first written 
in, 37- 

Dabricius, 55. 

Day's work, limit of, 146, 201. 

Decuriones, teaching by means 
of, 99, 105 ; duty of, in model 
school, 200. 

Detail, too much, condemned, 
112. 

Devotion, to be expressed bod- 
ily from the first, 128, 142. 

Diagrams and pictures, use of, 
114, 143. 

Dialectic, beginnings of, to be 
taught in the Mother School, 
140 ; in the Gymnasium, 148. 

Dialogue form of school-books 
advocated, 109. 

Dictation, 107. 

Dictionaries, not to be put into 
hands of a beginner, 123 ; 
see Lexicons. 

Didactica, see Magna Didac- 
tica. 

Diet, of young children, should 
be very simple, 143. 

Differentiation, use of, in teach- 
ing, 97, 115. 

Discipline, both verbal reproof 
and chastisement are, 127, 
130-136 ; severe, to be exer- 
cised only in offences against 
morals, 131, 142. 

Disputations, public, useful- 
ness of, 151. 



Docem, correspondent of Co- 
menius, 36, n. 

Domavius, on waste of time in 
learning Latin, 30. 

Dramatic representations, use 
of, 191, 192. 

Economics, beginnings of, may 
be taught in the Mother 
School, 141 ; treated in the 
text-book, 182. 

Editions of books, same, to be 
used throughout, 94, 100, 103, 
109. 

Education, two parallel streams 
in history of, 12 ; as under- 
stood by the Humanists and 
Reformers, 12, 13 ; by the 
Jesuits, 14, 15 ; difficulty in- 
herent in every system, 17 ; 
importance of a department 
of, as part of the philosophi- 
cal faculty, in our universi- 
ties, 18 ; want of. method in, 
led to decline of schools after 
Reformation, 18; study of 
method gave their superior- 
ity to the Jesuits, 19 ; follows, 
and does not lead, the course 
of science, philosophy, and 
politics, 20 ; obligations to 
the Sense-realists of first half 
of seventeenth century for 
the scientific foundations of 
methodism, 21, 22. 

Elbing, 45, 53. 

Encyclopsedism of Comenius, 
76, 182-219. 

Endter, Michael, his share in 
the production of the Orbis 
Pictus, 192. 

Epitomes, Comenius would 
teach Plato and Aritsotle by, 
217. 

Erasmus, 11, 20; on the bad 



264 



UFB AND WORKS OF COMKNIUS 



method of teaching Latin. 

30, 35- 
Europe, school - systems of 

modern, a tribute to Comen- 

ius's judgment, 196. 
Bvenius, Sigmund, correspond- 
ent of Comenius's, 36, n. 
Excerpts, use of, in study of 

Latin, 170. 
Exercises in Style, not to be 

that only, 101. 
examination of written 

107, 108. 
— the first, of tiros, to be in 



a known subject, 117. 

Famiuar things, examples to 
be taken from, 118, 120. 

Family, the, treated in a text- 
book, 182. 

Figulns, 69. 

Foreign languages, when to be 
begun, 147. 

Frey, Csecilius, on teaching of 
Latin, 35. 

Frisch, on waste of time in 
learning Latin, 30. 

Fulneck, 32. 

Games, treated in a text-book, 
182 ; all school exercises 
might be turned into, 193. 

Geer, Gerard de, 70. 

Lawrence de, Comenius 

invited by, to make Amster- 
dam his home, 60. 

Ludovic de, his friendship 

with Comenius, 49-54 ; death 
of, 59- 

Geography, beginnings of, to 
be taught in the Mother 
School, 140. 

Geometry, rudiments of, to be 
taught in Mother School, 
140. 

German Empire, Diet of, re- 



ceives Ratich's memorial, 22. 

Gesture, as a discipline, 201. 

Giessen, University of, favor- 
able to Ratich's pretensions, 
24, 30. 

Goals, advantage of fixed, in 
teaching, 103. 

God, all knowledge should lead 
to, 77 78. 

Graduation, university, 151. 

Grammar, as fundamental sub- 
ject, 10; how to be taught, 
116; rudiments of, to be 
taught in the Mother School, 
141 ; to be taught, from the 
material side, 157 ; ought to 
be taught in the Vernacular 
School, 157 ; Latin, of Alva- 
rus, 159; an instrument of 
.torture, 159,. Greek, only so 
much to be taught as is differ- 
e?it from Latin, 122. 

Grammars, overloading of, 115. 

Grammar Schools, improve- 
ments made in, under Mel- 
anchthon, Sturm, Colet, and 
Ascham, not permanent ; 
causes of this, 16. 

Greek, knowledge of, exposed 
a man to suspicion of heresy, 
12; moderate knowledge of, 
included in Jesuits' course, 
15 ; a necessary language for 
theologians and physicians, 
119; may be learned in one 
year, 121 ; text-book of, 194. 

Gregory Nazianzen, Commen- 
ius's favorite quotation from, 

37- 
Gymnasium, should be formed 
in every province, 137 ; or 
Latin School, the idea of, 

147-149. 

Habrecht, Isaac, 38, 162. 



INDKX 



265 



Hartlib, Samuel, correspondent 

of Comenius, 45, 52. 
Health, bodily, of children, 

should be a prime object with 

the mother, even before birth, 

142. 
Heathen classics, Comenius's 

attitude towards, 217. 
Hebrew, a necessary language 

for theologians, 114; maybe 

learned in half a year, 121 ; 

text-book of, 194. 
Helvicus, on teaching of Latin, 

35- 

Herborn, college of, 28, 29. 

History, how to be taught in" 
the Mother School, 140; to 
be taught in every class of 
the Gymnasium, 150. 

Holidays, 205. 

Honors, university, 151. 

Horace, quoted, 113. 

Hours, number of, to be spent 
in vernacular school, 146. 

Human knowledge, aims at re- 
vision and arrangement of, 
73. 

Humanism, theological gained 
the day among the Reformed 
Churches, 14 ; Humanism of 
the Jesuits not a mere name, 
16. 

Humanistic movement, its rep- 
resentative in earlier half of 
sixteenth century, 11 ; its at- 
titude towards Aristotelian- 
ism, 17. 

Humanistic revival and Theo- 
logical revival contrasted, 16. 

Humanists, literary and theo- 
logical, their difference of 
aim, 13, 14 ; educational pro- 
gramme of the Reformation 
and the Humanists carried 
out in Scotland alone, 17 ; 



comparative failure of their 
Realism, 216. 
Huss, 1 1 , 25 ; what he did for the 
Czech dialect, 26. 

Illustrations on walls, use 

of, 206. 
Illustris Scholce Patakanicu 

Idea, 56. 
Imitation, use of, in study of 

Latin, 170. 
Induction, knowledge by ; the 

sum of Bacon's teaching, 19. 
Infant (or Mother) School 

should be formed in every 

house, 137 ; the idea of. 139- 

141. 
Isocrates quoted, 90. 

JANUA LlNGUARUM, Bateus's, 

38 ; Comenius's remarks on, 
39, 4o, 53- 

Janua Linguae Latinae rese- 
rata, 180-182 ; a Text-book, 
second edition of, 183-188 ; to 
be gone through ten times, 
186. Bib., 235-243. 

Jena, university of, favorable 
to Ratich's scheme, 30. 

Jesuits, order of, education its 
special function, 15, 16 ; mer- 
its and demerits of their sys- 
tem, 15 ; advantages arising 
from their making a study 
of Method, 19; their schools 
praised by Bacon, 19 ; under 
their instigation the evangel- 
ical pastors proscribed, 32 ; 
their method of teaching lan- 
guages, 161, 162. 

Jonston, correspondent of Co- 
menius, 36. 

Kempis, A., quoted, 68. 
Knowledge, confounded with 



266 



LIFF AND WORKS OF COMENIUS 



wisdom by Comenius and his 

followers, 220. 
Komenski, see Comenius. 
Kotterus, 55. 

Labyrinths, schools compared 
to, in their distracting influ- 
ences, 63. 

Language, the whole of a lan- 
guage not to be learned, 119. 

Languages, to be learnt sepa- 
rately, 120 ; order in which 
to be learned, 120 ; modern, 
can be learned in a year for 
each, 120 ; to be learned by 
practice rather than pre- 
cept, 120 ; different stages in 
learning, 122 ; not to be 
learned from grammars 85 ; 
method as applied to, 119, 
120 ; necessary languages in 
their order, 119. 

Latin literature, 13, 

Latin, familiarity with, as a 
common language, the school- 
aim of the Jesuits, 15 ; waste 
of time in learning, 30 ; noth- 
ing but, to be spoken in the 
school at Patak, 56, 65 ; 
to make compendium for 
learning, one of the three 
chief objects of his school re- 
form, 57 ; tedium and labor 
of learning, as at present 
taught, 82 ; disadvantage of, 
as a medium for teaching 
Latin, 91 ; a necessary lan- 
guage, 35, 119; may be 
learned in two years, 121 ; 
superstitious attachment to, 
144 ; Lubinus on the torture 
of learning, 155 ; the vehicle 
of all learning, 156 ; evil of 
abstract teaching of, 157; 
grammar should not be writ- 
ten in Latin, 158 ; conversa- 



tional method in learning, 
159, 185. 

Latin School, see Gymnasium. 

Latinity, Comenius defends 
his, 61. 

Latino-latin Lexicon, Comen- 
ius's, 57. 

Latium Redivivum, 65; see 
' Roman Cities. ' 

Lesna, 34, 41, 60. 

Lessons, specimen of Comen- 
ius's, 184. 

Letters, revival of, its date, 9; 
characteristics, 10-13, 26. 

Lexicons, full, condemned, 
112 ; etymological, preferred 
to a dictionary for a young 
pupil, 123 ; of phrases, syn- 
onyms, 123. 

Library, walking, every cap- 
' able pupil to become a, 66. 

Library and MSS., loss of, at 
Lesna, 60. 

Lipsius, on grammatical trifles, 
161. 

Literature of Greece and Rome, 
the almost exclusive channels 
of culture with the literary 
Humanists, 13. 

Logic, included in Jesuits' 
course, 15, 109 ; one of the 
' Arts,' 10, 115. 

London, 48. 

Lubinus, Professor, of Rostock, 
quoted, 29; on teaching of 
Latin, 35, 155 ; advocates 
school-books with pictures, 
161; see 253. 

Ludus, Schola, 193. 

Ludus Literarius, the school a, 
196. 

Luther, a Humanist, 11; his 
impassioned appeals in be- 
half of popular education, 
13 ; first place in all schools 
claimed for the Scriptures, 



INDEX 






13 ; his services to the Ger- 
man language, 26 ; on the 
waste of time in learning 
Latin, 30. 
Lux in Tenebris, Comenius's 
work entitled, 55. 

Magna Didactica, 26 ; first 
written in Czech, 37, 70 ; gen- 
eral statement of aim, 77 ; 
method of education there in- 
culcated, 83-98 ; school man- 
agement, 99-101 ; the appli- 
cation of methods to practice, 
102-112, see 229. 

Management, school, 98-101. 

Marriage, treated in a text- 
book, 182. 

Masson, Professor, quoted, 45. 

Mechanics, rudiments of, to be 
taught in the Mother School, 
140. 

Melanchthon, 11 ; his universal 
activity in behalf of educa- 
tion earns him the title of 
Praeceptor Germanise, 13 ; 
holds Christian teaching to 
be the main end of the school, 
14 ; his influence on grammar 
schools 16 ; his attitude to- 
wards Aristotelianism in the 
Universities, 17 ; on teaching 
of Latin, 35 ; advocates in- 
struction in grammar, 160. 

Memory, to be fatigued as little 
as possible, 92 ; tasks of, 107 ; 
how to be used, 166 ; weekly 
contests in, 204. 

Mencel, Abraham, correspon- 
dent of Comenius, 36, n. 

Method, — the secret of educa- 
tion, 19, 31 ; the Jesuits' ap- 
preciation of, 18 ; importance 
of, in relation to teaching of 
Latin, 34 ; the thread of Ar- 
iadne, 64 ; difference of Co- 
jnenius's method from the 



truly inductive, 74 ; Luther 
recognizes the necessity for, 
81 ; in Education, three great 
divisions in (1), Certo, 84- 
89, (2) Facile, 89-94 ; (3) 
Solide, 94-98 ; application 
of, to practice, 102-112 ; ap- 
plied in detail to the sciences, 
112-115 ; to the arts, 115-119; 
to languages, 1 19-123 ; to 
marality, 120-127 ; to piety, 
127-130. 

Comenius's, as applied to 

language, 223. 

, Comenius's chief con- 



tribution to education, 221- 

223. 
Method! , Synopsis Novissimse, 

61. 
Methods, three, of ascertaining 

and expounding truth, 62. 
Methodus, Novissima Lingu- 

arum, described, 155, 156, 

Milton, his estimate of Univer- 
sity teaching in his own day, 
18 ; his friend Samuel Hart- 
lib, 44. 

Mochinger, correspondent of 
Comenius, 36, n. 

Modern languages, more im- 
portant than Latin, 144. 

Mohtor, Johann, 69. 

Montaigne, 20, 160. 

Morality, method as applied 
to, 124 ; all sciences and arts 
only preparatory to, 124; 
foundations of, taught in the 
Mother School, 141. 

Morals and manners, introduc- 
tion of higher tone of, one of 
three chief objects of school- 
reform, 58. 

Morals (and religion) , the final 
aim, of all Comenius's teach- 
ing, 65. 



268 



UF£ AND WORKS OF. COMKNIUS 



Moravian (or Bohemian) Breth- 
ren, 25. 

More, Sir Thomas, 11. 

Moser, Martin, correspondent 
of Comenius, 36, n. 

Mulcaster, as a critic of Method, 

35- 

Music, elements of, how may- 
be taught in the Mother 
School, 141 ; in the Gym- 
nasium, 148; teaching of, 205. 

Mystical leanings, Comenius's, 
55, 212. 

Naturalistic Realism, Com- 
enius the true founder of, 
219. 

Nature, movement towards the 
study of, represented by 
Bacon, 19 ; attitude of the 
poets towards, 19 ; Iyodovicus 
Vives on study of, 42 ; Com- 
enius's view of, 42. 

Nature, bent of, in each boy to 
be encouraged, 112. 

Neglect, uses of a wise, 111. 

Neighboring nations, languages 
of, necessary, 119. 

New Testament, in Greek, 208. 

Niclassius, correspondent of 
Comenius, 36, n. 

Nigrinus, 70. 

Notation, musical, to be taught, 
207. 

Obstacles and their remedies, 
102-105. 

Optics, beginning of, taught in 
the Mother School, 139. 

Orbis Pictus, 56 ; fullest appli- 
cation of Comenius's princi- 
ples, 190; use of illustrations 
in, 191, 192 ; most popular 
school-book in Europe, 192. 
E/u. f 245-251. 

Organization, general, of a 
school-system, 137-153* 



inner, of a Pansophic 



school, 1 96-2 1 1 
Oxenstiern, 49, 50. 

Pagan authors, caution in 
using, 130. 

Paliurus, correspondent of 
Comenius, 36, n. 

Pansopkia, Comenius's concep- 
tion of, 44. 

PansophicE Prtzludium, 47. 

Pansophic? Diatyposis, 52. 

Pansophic school, inner organ- 
ization of, 196-21 1. 

Pansophy, or universal wisdom, 
first part of Magna Didac- 
tica, 74 ; the temple of Chris- 
tian, 75 ; its seven different 
divisions, 75. 

Paradisus Juventuti Chris- 
tians reducendus, the school 
as a spiritual society, 66. 

Parsing, not to be pressed in 
beginning Latin, 175. 

Patak, Comenius's voluminous 
work at, 56 ; Seminary at, to 
be an imitation of a L,atin 
state, 56 ; farewell address to 
school at, 59. 

People, schools for the, the 
child of *he Reformation, 
12 , Comenius first taught in 
one of them, 26. 

Pestalozzi, anticipated by Com- 
enius, 223. 

Petrarch, 9, 11. 

Philo, 62. 

Philosophy, to introduce a bet- 
ter, into school work, one of 
three chief objects of school 
reform, 58. 

Physicians, Greek and Arabic, 
necessary languages for, 119. 

Physics, Comenius on the re- 
forming of, 44, 256 ; taught 
in the Gymnasium, 148; ru- 



INDEX 



269 



diments of, taught in the 
Mother School, 139. 

Pictures and emblems, walls of 
school to be hung with, 203 ; 
reading-books to be full of, 
do., 207-210; see Diagrams; 
school books with, advocated, 
161. 

Piety, method as applied to, 
127. 

Plants, advantages of collec- 
tions of, to the pupils, 101. 

Plato, to be taught by an epi- 
tome, 217. 

Pliny quoted, 64 ; to be studied 
in highest class for natural 
science, 170. 

Pleasantness, how insured in 
learning, 167. 

Poetry, taste for, may be laid in 
the Mother School, 141. 

Poland, its extent in the time 
of Comenius, 26. 

Polity, book of, in Reformed 
Church of Scotland, exempli- 
fies union of theological with 
philanthropic spirit, 13. 

Polity, something of, may be 
taught in the Mother School, 
141. 

-Porta Sapienticz reserata, 46. 

Prayer denned, 128. 

JPrecepts of manners, written 
for the Patak school, 57, 

Primary school, see Vernacular 
School. 

Primer, Latin, see Vestibulum. 

Printing Press, the Living, an- 
alogy with schools, 65. 

Prodromus Pansophice, 46. 

Progress, only those pupils who 
have made equal, to be ad- 
mitted to the same class, 

Promptuarium Catholicon, the 



Dictionary for Students in 
the fourth stage, 123. 

Prophecy, modern, work on 
fulfilment of, 55. 

Proportion, necessity of observ- 
ing, in teaching, 97 ; of 
teachers to the taught, 99, 
105. 

Pseudo-students, not to be tol- 
erated in University, 150. 

Punishment, by stripes, re- 
served for moral offences, 
127. 

Pupils, much to be learned by 
the teacher from, 168. 

Quickness, how insured, in 

learning, 166-167. 
Quintilian quoted, 117. 

Racocus, Prince, 55. 

Raphael, Count of I4ssa, 34. 

Ranke, quoted, 14. 

Ratich, Wolfgang von, Com- 
enius's predecessor, 22-24 ; 
his scheme favorably received 
by Universities of Jena and 
Giessen, 29, 30, 36, 154 ; on 
the teaching of grammar, 
161, 162. 

Raumer, von, 23, 42; his char- 
acter of Comenius, 70. 

Reading, to be taught with 
writing, no, in. 

the vernacular, one of the 

'Arts' with Comenius, 115. 

Realism, true and false, 21, 22; 
its province in education, 
220 ; Comenius's thorough- 
going, in education, 75. 

Reformation, the, gave rise to 
schools for the people, 12, 
I3» 26. 

Reformers, educational spirit 
of, 217. 

Religion furnished motive of 



270 



LIFE AND WORKS OF COMENIUS 



education 350 years ago, 16 ; 
does so still, 16. 

(and morals) , the final aim 

of all Comenius's teaching, 
65, 66. 

Religion, rules for educating 
children in, 128-130 ; begin- 
nings of, to be taught in the 
Mother School, 141 ; exer- 
cises of, in schools, 204 ; al- 
ways prominent in Comen- 
ius's scheme, 212. 

Renascence, characteristics of 
the, 9-21, 26. 

Repetition of lessons, advan- 
tages of, 146, 166. 

Republic, ideal Latin school, 
described, 56, 57. 

Research, scientific, endowment 
of, 151, 152. 

Rhetoric, included in Jesuits' 
course, 15, 108 ; one of the 
'Arts,' 10, 115 ; rudiments of, 
how acquired in a Mother 
School, 141 ; in the Gymnas- 
ium, 147. 

Ritter, on teaching of Latin, 

35- 

Rivalry, advantages of, 101, 
105. 

Roman Catholic Church, its 
attitude towards the scho- 
lastic changes of the revival, 
14 ; founds the order of the 
Jesuits, 15. 

'Roman Cities,' schools which 
should be, 171. 

Rome, relation of to Greece, 
10. 

Sanctius, on waste of time in 
learning- Latin, 30, 35. 

Saxony, remodelled school code 
of, in 1773, 17. 

Schmidt, 23. 



Schola Indus, Co m e n i u s 's* 
quoted, 30, 31, 56. 

Schola Pansophica, or Univer- 
salis Sapienticz Ojficina, 56. 

Scholcs Pansophiccs classibus 
septem adornandce Deline- 
ation 56. 

Schola Scholarum, for scienti- 
fic research, desirableness of,, 
47, 152, 153. 

School, vernacular, should be 
formed in every village, 137. 

Schools of his own day, criti- 
cism on, by Comenius, 29. 

should be workshops of 

humanity (' officina horni- 
num '), 81 ; too often torture- 
chambers, 81. 

School - instruction identical 
with language instruction in 
15th and 16th centuries, 154. 

School-reform, three chief ob- 
jects of, 58. 

Schoolmasters, the torturers of 
boys, 158. 

Scientific research, how to be 
encouraged, 151, 152. 

Scioppius, opposed to cum- 
brous rules of Grammar, 159. 

Scotland, carries out educa- 
tional programme of Reform- 
ation and the Humanists, 17. 

Seneca quoted, 64, 10 1, 124. 

Senses, advantages of teaching 
through the, 94, 100, 101, 113 ; 
external, will be exercised 
chiefly in Mother or Infant 
Schools, 138 ; inner, in ver- 
nacular school, 138. 

Seyffarth, ^.,31. 

Singing, one of the ' Arts ' with 
Comenius, 115. 

Skyte, John, of Upsala, 50. 

Society, regeneration of, Com- 
enius's inspiring motive, 226„ 



INDKX 



271 



^Solidity, how insured in learn- 
ing, 167. 

■Specialization, danger of too 
great, 74. 

; Sports, all kinds of, approved 
of, 142. 

Statics, rudiments of, to be 
taught in Mother School, 
140. 

Strassnick, school of, 27. 

•Sturm, John, of Strasburg, 14 ; 
Jesuits adopt best parts of 
his methods in their schools, 
15 ; his influence on gram- 
mar schools, 16 ; on waste of 
time in learning I^atin, 30, 

35- 

■Style, importance attached to, 
by the early Humanists, 10 ; 
faults of cultivating for it- 
self, 15 ; to improve, weekly 
letters among the pupils, 
204. 

^Sweden, 50. 

Syncretism (the use of Ana- 
logy), as a method of ascer- 
taining truth, 62. 

"Synthesis, as a method of ascer- 
taining truth, 62. 

Tabi^, public, for poor schol- 
ars, 199. 

Tassius, Adolph, quoted, 47. 

Technical Schools, properly so- 
called, 115. 

Text-books, improvement in, 
chief benefit to youth from 
revival of letters, 11 ; those 
that require to be written, 
149 ; good, essential to the 
teacher, 163 ; Comenius's 
own, 173-194; Greek, 194; 
Hebrew, 194. 
'Theologians, Greek and He- 
brew necessary languages for 
119. 



Thirty Years' War, 26, 31. 

Time-table, 205. 

Topfer (Potter), the family 
name of Comenius, 25. 

Traditio Lampadis, in his 
work, Comenius passes on 
his didactic mission to others, 
66. 

Transylvania, reform of schools 
in, 55- 

Travel, with a view to educa- 
tion, 152. 

Trotzendorf, Valentine, his aim 
in education, 14; Jesuits 
adopt best parts of his methods 
in their schools, 15. 

Turkish, Comenius's wish to 
translate the Bible into, 70, 

Typographeum Vivium, 65. 

Unity of Protestant Christen- 
dom, Comenius's desire for, 

Universities, Aristotelian phy- 
sics, metaphysics, and the 
scholastic philosophy in the, 
17. 

University, should be found in 
every kingdom or large prov- 
ince, 137. 

(Academia), the idea of, 



150-152. 

Unum necessarium ( ' the one 
thing needful '), Comenius's 
last work, 70. 

Vacation, Christmas, etc., 
205. 

Varro, to be studied for Econ- 
omics, 170. 

Ventilabrum Sapientice, etc., 
a critical survey of all he had 
written 62. 

Vernacular, teacher to use 
same, as the pupil, 91 ; a 
necessary language, 119; de- 



272 



LIFE) AND WORKS OF COMFNIUS 



mands more time than any 
other language, 120; more 
important than Latin, 144. 

Vernacular-Lat in Lexicon, 
should be constructed by 
boys for themselves, 183. 

Vernacular school, object and 
scope of, 144-147. 

Verse-making,not commended, 
20Q 

Vesitduluniy Comenius's, 41, 
53, «•> 2 35- 

Vestibulum (Latin Primer), 
Comenius's first text-book, 
173-176 ; second edition of, 
176-180 : to be gone through 
ten times, 186. 

Virtues, the four Cardinal, 
124. 

Vitruvius, to be studied for 
Architecture, 170. 

Vives, Ludovicus, 11, 20 ; on 



waste of time in learnings 
Latin, 30, 42. 

Vocabularies, preferred to Dic- 
tionaries for beginners, 122, 
123. 

Vossius, on teaching of Latin, 
35 ; opposed to cumbrous 
rules of" grammar, 159. 

WEISSENBURG, 29. 

Wet nurses denounced, 143. 

Wilcitz, 33. 

Winkler, George, correspon- 
dent of Comenius, 36, n. 

Words versus things, 99, 101. 

to be taught with things, 

109, 158, 162, 221. 

Writing, one of the ' Arts ' with 
Comenius, 115. 

Wycliffe, 11. 

Zerotin, Karl von, protects. 
Comenius, 32. 



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